When poker players push all of their chips to the middle of the table, this signifies their confidence in having a winning hand. However, it wouldn’t be right to attempt withdrawing those chips when the hand turns out to be less than great, Gian Paul Gonzalez explained.
“We would never do that in a game of poker. Why do we do it with our lives?” Gonzalez asked. “Why do we say we’re committed to things, but then when things get a little difficult, we look for an exit strategy?”
Being “all in” was the message Gonzalez delivered as guest speaker at the Apopka Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast on National Day of Prayer, Thursday, May 2, at the Apopka Community Center/VFW building. The breakfast was sponsored by the Apopka Christian Ministerial Alliance. About 400 people were in attendance.
The National Day of Prayer is annually observed the first Thursday of May, encouraging people of all faiths to pray for the nation.
Gonzalez’s “All In” message first became famous when he used it to lead a New York Giants’ chapel service before their Christmas Eve game with the New York Jets. There, Gonzalez gave each Giants player a poker chip to illustrate his point of putting everything they have into their commitments. At the time, there was little hope the Giants would make it to the playoffs.
Following the service, the Giants won every game they played the rest of the season, up to and including Super Bowl XLVI where they beat the New England Patriots 21-17.
As someone who famously credited for the Giants’ Super Bowl victory, Gonzalez was featured on ESPN for Super Bowl Sunday, Fox News, ABC, and CNN. He travels across the country as a motivational speaker, having spoken to the NBA’s Portland Trailblazers, the Army Cadets at West Point, United States Air Force, AnheuserBusch, Sam’s Club, and many other corporate, athletic, government agencies, and educational institutions.
A high school history teacher in Union City, N.J., Gonzalez is the founder of Hope + Future, an organization dedicated to using athletics and physical fitness to share a message of hope and striving for excellence in inner-city public schools and juvenile jails.
Read more about Gian-Paul Gonzalez’s message as well as other highlights from the Apopka Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast on page 1A of the Friday, May 3 issue of The Apopka Chief.
