By Danielle Ellis
Surround Yourself with Greatness.” This is the commitment a young Chad Lewis made to himself while he was half a world away from home, serving a mission in Taiwan. He read an old talk by Gordon B. Hinckley, “Caeser, Circus, or Christ,” (available at speeches.byu.edu; 1965) and resolved to himself that he could surround himself with great music, great books and great people, and this would help him to become the man he wanted to be.

This message has indeed shaped Chad Lewis’ life: it led him to a successful career in BYU football, a happy family life, a nine year career in professional football and beyond. It is now the title of his new book. I recently sat down with Chad to talk about his life lessons, which are universal and will bless anyone who will ponder on them and apply them.

That commitment in Taiwan didn’t come on its own. In the preceding months, Elder Lewis had faced the realities of life in its most raw form. The summer before his mission, Chad watched helplessly as his father, a marathon runner and picture of health, nearly died from a massive stroke, brain aneurysm and the emergency brain surgery required to save his life. The security of his happy home suddenly was turned upside down as his father clung to life in the intensive care unit.

Our biggest lessons in life are often built on a long string of events. Chad says his father’s stroke “changed me in every way. It forced me to grow up immediately.” He explains, “First of all, how difficult it was, to see my dad go through that. Then the way my family came together, that was impactful for me. Very powerful. Then the humbling parts about being ‘stroked out,’ like holding a bed pan for my dad. Real quick, you can’t just be 18 ½ years old. It’s like, ‘this is real life. So grow up!’ It was awesome for every reason.”

Chad’s mother brought the situation into focus. The day of her husband’s surgery, she began a book she called the “Blessings Book.” Each day, they would count their blessings. That first grim day in the hospital, the entry contained only names: all their family members. Each day, as her husband’s situation changed, there were new blessings to count. Which limb he could move.
The kindness of ward members bringing food. The visitors, the skill of the doctors, the kindness of the rehabilitation team.

That focus on blessings “was everything,” he says. Chad’s mother was always positive and reassuring, so, he says, “it wasn’t surprising that when the world crashed and my dad had a stroke, that her reaction was similar. That was her instinct. When the most difficult thing of our lives happened, she went to prayer, fasting and gratitude.” His mother would say, “even if we only have one blessing, we’re going to hang onto it, and focus on it.”

“It was powerful at the time, but it took me until a year later, when I was in Taiwan, to realize what happened. Here I was reading about Moses parting the Red Sea, and I realized that a similar miracle had just happened in my own life. So I was catapulted into the mission field with a testimony of the power of the priesthood. And gratitude is a part of that, it’s one of our greatest blessings. Because of that, I was different.

“Before I left for my mission, I remember thinking, I want to come home and be the same guy. I told my friends, ‘Don’t worry, I’m not going to come home a weirdo. I’m going to come home the exact same.’ I am SO thankful that I didn’t come home the same person. And a big reason was my mom’s focus on gratitude. So when I came home I was different. I think there were some people who said, ‘Dude, you’re weird.’ And I said ‘Good! I’m SO grateful for the lessons that I learned.”

I commented that President Eyring had recently talked about writing down our blessings (O Remember, Remember, Ensign, Nov 2007), and joked that his mom pre-empted President Eyring by 15 years. He replied, “That’s exactly what I thought when I heard that talk. If some of those things had not been written down, I would not have been able to see the Lord’s hand through years of time. Some of those things would have been forgotten as a distant memory.
Because they were written down, I can go back and look—and I do—and just think, ‘Wow! That was powerful.’”

Chad’s father’s example of strength in adversity was key as Chad prepared for his mission. “It was pretty much the best example I could have ever had. I was getting ready to go learn the hardest language in the world; getting ready to go live in a foreign, foreign, land; with a foreign culture, a foreign sound. What could I complain about? Or cry about? Nothing! I could get to work, though. He was still in rehab when I went into the MTC, going through this difficult transition of being a missionary, and having a companion. That’s a difficult transition for any kid. But I was writing letters to my dad, and he was still learning how to do things with one hand, still going through his battles. So I had no room to cry, and no self-pity.”

During his time in the MTC, Chad became homesick. He learned that when he served others, his feelings of unease and homesickness disappeared. But did he see then that service would become a pattern in his life?

“I didn’t. I think that’s part of the miracle of missionary work. It’s not totally transparent, meaning you don’t realize as a 19-year-old kid that your life is going to change because you are serving other people, it just happens. And as you come home and reflect on that you see that is the Lord’s pattern for happiness.”

What was the most important lesson he took from his mission? “Without a doubt, that the Savior lives. That was THE reason why I was there. It wasn’t just to do nice things for other people. It wasn’t to be an example of good. We were proclaiming to the world, in their own language, that the Savior lives. I felt such a need to share the hope and the light of the Savior.”

Another lesson in greatness came from Chad’s mission president, Kent Watson, in the form of a
Teddy Roosevelt quote. The message was, in essence: “There will always be critics. There will always be people saying you can’t do something. Every one of us are going to hear that, throughout our lives. My mission president gave us that message that ‘You give your all. And even when you give your all, there will still be critics. Are you going to listen to them? Are you going to not try next time?’ His message was ‘Welcome to Real Life.’ It was another lesson in growing up. That lesson helped me in [pro football] because you have to be tough enough to handle life, because life is tough! Wake up, shine your shoes, and get on with it.”

When he returned from his mission and went to BYU to do college, track and eventually football, the “Surround Yourself with Greatness” goal was at the forefront of his mind. “The people I chose to hang out with, and be around, I made a conscious choice about them. The music I listened to before football, my friends.

“This [great success] didn’t happen because I was a great athlete. I was very ordinary. I am tall, and I can run fast, but this message is a successful message. For high school kids, elementary kids, people who are retiring, working professionals: it’s your choice! Who and what are you going to be around?”

Chad spends the rest of the book describing the greatness he found in a huge range of people in his life. They were great for many reasons: one was kind, one was motivating, one was positive, one showed toughness, one used humor to overcome difficulties and on and on. The greatness he finds is not limited to those on the football field; he finds it everywhere, in every circumstance. Chad says, “Greatness comes in many ways. If I could say something in this book, it would be: ‘Whoever you are, be the best at what you are!’ Recognize the greatness that’s already around you.

“Some people in Philly have criticized this message, saying, ‘you grew up in a two-parent family, your dad was a doctor, don’t talk to us, we’re in the hood!’ I share the story of Cori ten Boom, whose family was caught sheltering Jews and sent to a concentration camp. They had nothing, and were in flea-infested barracks waiting to die. Yet Cori’s sister began to count their blessings: they were together, not alone. Because of the crowd in the barracks, they had more people to share the message of the gospel. You can find blessings anywhere! There is always a blessing, even in the middle of the Holocaust. That’s invincibility!”

In a pivotal moment, Chad caught the game-winning touchdown in the 2005 NFC Championship game, sending his team to the Super Bowl. But during the play he suffered a severe break in his left foot, so he wouldn’t be able to play in the big game. But showing the lesson he had internalized, he kept the situation in perspective.

“I knew I wasn’t going to the Super Bowl. That was tough. But here I was, just 15 years before, my dad had given me that example. So I had a chance to whine and cry about ‘I can’t play in the Super Bowl,’ I couldn’t do that. My dad didn’t do that.

“It was a powerful moment to realize that’s what I had wanted to do all my life, since I was a little kid playing football in the back yard. ‘3-2-1 I’m in the Super Bowl, and we won it!’

“I realized this game was three hours long, and once it’s over, it’s over. But my family is forever.
That was something else. That really carried me through that week. If anyone tried to feel sorry for me, I said, ‘Don’t feel sorry for me, I’ve got the greatest family in the world!’”