by Jennifer Jacoby-Smith
“Rob’s best football has yet to be played,” Edmonton Eskimos coach Tom Higgins stated to the Edmonton Journal in February 2002 about pass receiver/special team player Rob Harrod.
A second round draft pick in 2000, last season Harrod played 12 games with the Esks. When he signed a one year contract this
spring, Harrod’s future in the CFL seemed solid.
Off the field, life was also good. Harrod, 25, and his girlfriend, Joy, married in May. The couple also bought a house in Edmonton.
“To be able to [play football] for a living is really a dream come true,” says Harrod.
But shortly after playing the first game of the regular season, Harrod came home to his new wife, visibly shaken. “I knew the
minute he walked in the door, he was quite upset,” says Joy.
Rob had been cut from the team.
Despite the disappointment, both Rob and Joy found peace in their relationship with God. Says Rob, “I was upset that I got
cut, but I knew God had a plan for me.”
Harrod accepted Christ as his personal Saviour at a very young age, but he acknowledges, “It wasn’t really real to me.” During
his high school years, while he went to church weekly, he grew
away from his faith. “I didn’t really live the life like I knew I should be,” he admits. “I always made excuses.”
At the University of Ottawa it became apparent the talented young Harrod would play professionally. This realization urged
him to rededicate himself to Christ, putting Him first in every
area of his life. Harrod determined that he didn’t want to “live
[his faith] on Sundays and not live it the rest of the week.”
Living out his faith remains very important to him today.
Brent Kassian, the Edmonton Eskimos’ Team Chaplain, says Harrod
is someone who wishes to “walk the walk, not just talk the talk.”
Kassian, who performed the marriage ceremony for Rob and Joy,
adds that Harrod’s teammates could see “that Rob was honest and
transparent about his faith.”
Kassian adds that although Harrod wasn’t expecting to be cut, “He’s not bitter, but accepts it as part of CFL life.”
Through it all Harrod’s wife says that his attitude has remained positive, “I haven’t heard one bad thing about any team members or Tom [Higgins],” she says.
Harrod worked hard during his off-seasons to get his teaching certificate. After a trying summer, he landed a teaching job
at Jasper Place High School. Among his duties, not surprisingly,
is coaching the football team. Staying in the game “makes it
easier not to be playing,” acknowledges Harrod.
Harrod states that no matter where he goes, his first desire is to impact lives with the love of Christ. “Right now it’s with
kids at a high school. Before it was with the Eskimos,” he says.
More important than football, Harrod wants to inspire others to “put their faith in something sure.” Harrod knows first hand
that football, like life, is full of uncertainties. “Christ is
the only thing that lasts,” he says.
He adds, “To know that we’re going to spend an eternity with Him is pretty special.”
Harrod sometimes still dreams of a CFL career and come next spring he hopes to be at a training camp somewhere. But he says,
“I’m not overly worried about it.”
God has a plan for everyone, says Harrod. “He took me out
of football for a reason,” he notes. “Knowing that He’s in control
of my life puts an ease on everything.”
Joy agrees, “God’s got awesome plans for us!”
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