cOuPlES / COMMITMENT FOOTBALL , FAME O RFAM IL Y Jas<strong>on</strong> and Tay Brown chose to give up wealth and fame to pursue God’s call BY PAUL ASAY PHOTOS BY BRITTANY CRUSE 12 FOCUS ON THE FAMILY <strong>February</strong> / <strong>March</strong> <strong>2021</strong>
COMMITMENT / cOuPlES ALL SIGNS POINTED TO ANOTHER BIG CONTRACT for NFL center Jas<strong>on</strong> Brown. He’d been cut by <strong>the</strong> St. Louis Rams a few weeks earlier in 2012—a casualty of a head coaching change—but plenty of teams were still interested in <strong>the</strong> 28-year-old offensive lineman. Jas<strong>on</strong> had already rejected an offer from <strong>the</strong> Carolina Pan<strong>the</strong>rs; ano<strong>the</strong>r former team, <strong>the</strong> Baltimore Ravens, seemed eager to get him back. Before talking to <strong>the</strong> Ravens, Jas<strong>on</strong> and his wife, Tay, traveled to San Francisco. Tay hoped her husband would accept an offer from <strong>the</strong> 49ers. For Tay, a Bay Area native, it would mean being closer to family. It would mean coming home. But when Jas<strong>on</strong> returned from <strong>the</strong> 49ers facility and opened <strong>the</strong> door to <strong>the</strong>ir hotel room, he told her he’d turned <strong>the</strong>m down. Tay was angry. Her husband was rejecting multimilli<strong>on</strong>-dollar deals! He seemed like he was disinterested in playing professi<strong>on</strong>al football—a professi<strong>on</strong> milli<strong>on</strong>s would love to have. “So what’s <strong>the</strong> deal, Jas<strong>on</strong>?” she asked. “You turned down <strong>the</strong> Pan<strong>the</strong>rs. You turned down <strong>the</strong> 49ers. . . . If you’re not going to play football, what are you going to do?” Jas<strong>on</strong> took a deep breath. “God is telling me that we need to sell our home in St. Louis and move back to North Carolina,” he said. “He’s telling me to purchase some land <strong>the</strong>re. Because God is telling me that . . . He wants me to be a farmer.” Jas<strong>on</strong> had actually been thinking about this move for m<strong>on</strong>ths. He felt that God was calling him back to <strong>the</strong> basics: <strong>Family</strong>. Faith. The rich Carolina earth that his family had called home for generati<strong>on</strong>s. But he’d not told any<strong>on</strong>e else about this seemingly crazy seed that God had planted in him—not even his wife, not until now. Tay stared at Jas<strong>on</strong> for a minute. How could he drop this bomb <strong>on</strong> her in <strong>the</strong> middle of a marriage that was already struggling? “Jas<strong>on</strong>,” she finally said, “I’m so happy God is sharing all <strong>the</strong>se things with you, because He’s not sharing any of this with me!” For richer or poorer Jas<strong>on</strong> and Tay met nearly a decade earlier, after Tay graduated from Duke University and Jas<strong>on</strong> was a standout lineman for <strong>the</strong> University of North Carolina. Jas<strong>on</strong> insists that Tay was literally glowing when <strong>the</strong>y first met, as if God had put a spotlight <strong>on</strong> her. It took Jas<strong>on</strong> just <strong>on</strong>e date to know that Tay was <strong>the</strong> woman he wanted to marry. They seemed perfectly synced: Their priorities were faith, family and educati<strong>on</strong>. They both had big dreams—she wanted to become a dentist, he was destined to play in <strong>the</strong> NFL—and <strong>the</strong>y were determined to pursue those dreams toge<strong>the</strong>r. They married in May 2005. He was 20, she 22. And at first, everything was w<strong>on</strong>derful. They lived toge<strong>the</strong>r in a modest townhome as Jas<strong>on</strong> closed out his college career—studying toge<strong>the</strong>r, laughing toge<strong>the</strong>r, praying toge<strong>the</strong>r. “And <strong>the</strong>n came <strong>the</strong> call from <strong>the</strong> world,” Jas<strong>on</strong> says. Dreams take sacrifice. Tay pushed dental school back a year to help Jas<strong>on</strong> deal with <strong>the</strong> tragic loss of his bro<strong>the</strong>r in Iraq. Then Jas<strong>on</strong> was NFL bound, but he had no c<strong>on</strong>trol over who he might play for. Any <strong>on</strong>e of 32 teams might draft him, which made it incredibly difficult for Tay to choose a dental school. Finally, <strong>the</strong>y decided that Tay would apply for dental school in North Carolina and make <strong>the</strong> state home base. Jas<strong>on</strong> would play football wherever <strong>the</strong> NFL asked him to. They agreed to try a l<strong>on</strong>g-distance marriage during <strong>the</strong> seas<strong>on</strong>. “You make <strong>the</strong> best choices you can at <strong>the</strong> time with <strong>the</strong> informati<strong>on</strong> and <strong>the</strong> wisdom you have,” Tay says. “And when you’re 20-something years old, that’s what we thought would work out best.” Jas<strong>on</strong> ended up <strong>on</strong> <strong>the</strong> Ravens, and <strong>the</strong> separati<strong>on</strong> was painful. When <strong>the</strong>ir first child, J.W., was born in 2007, Jas<strong>on</strong> felt <strong>the</strong> distance growing between <strong>the</strong>m. “I was not offering <strong>the</strong> quality time or <strong>the</strong> emoti<strong>on</strong>al support that [Tay and J.W.] needed,” he said. “I was providing for my family, but <strong>the</strong>re’s a huge difference between being a fa<strong>the</strong>r and a provider.” Because <strong>the</strong>y spent so much of <strong>the</strong> year apart, Tay says that <strong>the</strong>y didn’t really have each o<strong>the</strong>r to depend <strong>on</strong>. “We were slowly pulling apart. . . . Where it says [in <strong>the</strong> Bible] that ‘<strong>the</strong> two shall be as <strong>on</strong>e,’ we were drifting, and not really being <strong>on</strong>e.” >>> <strong>February</strong> / <strong>March</strong> <strong>2021</strong> FOCUS ON THE FAMILY 13