Three King’s Day was yesterday, January 6. It is the time that marks the end of the Christmas season and the visit of the Magi to the Christ child. Many speak of the three kings — in song, story (some fable), and poem — but what we know is that there were three gifts that are mentioned in Matthew 2: gifts of gold, incense, and myrrh. These three gifts hold multiple meanings — symbolic on different levels, but they also might be a point of introspection for us as we move into the new year.

Today, on the podcast, what gifts of wealth (gold), worship (incense), and weakness (myrrh) do you and I bring into 2026? Whether as an athlete, coach, staffer, or chaplain — and whether it is into our work spaces or into our homes or church communities each of us brings these gifts (given by God) and they are a beautiful part of who we are.

From the Touchline is a short-feature podcast with Rev Brad Kenney, Founder and Executive Director of Soccer Chaplains United and Volunteer Chaplain to the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. Rev Brad and occasional guests touch on various issues around the topics of faith, family, and football (soccer).

Also, don’t forget that you can listen in our app, SoccrChapUtd, in the Apple and Google store.

Some of you know that I love my Scottish/English/Irish heritage (maybe a little too much). I have found much within Celtic Christianity, that I connect with and today on the podcast, I share about a Scottish tradition of ‘first-footing.’ Essentially, the first guest into someone’s home for the New Year carries symbolic and representative gifts that are to be a boon and blessing for the year to come.

My encouragement today is that we need to let Jesus Christ ‘first-foot’ into our hearts, homes, and lives. Whether as a professional footballer or coach, as a chaplain, or simply as a fan. We need to let Jesus be first in the door and to bring us the gift of himself to fulfill all our hopes and desires.

Praying that you and your loved ones have a blessed and wonderful 2026 as you let Jesus ‘first-foot’!

From the Touchline is a short-feature podcast with Rev Brad Kenney, Founder and Executive Director of Soccer Chaplains United and Volunteer Chaplain to the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. Rev Brad and occasional guests touch on various issues around the topics of faith, family, and football (soccer).

Also, don’t forget that you can listen in our app, SoccrChapUtd, in the Apple and Google store.

Hey friends, sometimes it can be hard to find that gift for that special person who enjoys soccer. I just wanted to quickly share a couple of resources that might be great gift ideas during this Christmas season.

I recently had a couple of conversations with some friends and suggested a couple of devotionals to fit the need.

The Light is Coming, The Five Women You Meet In Faith and Football, and more recently, The Soccer Psalms, are all faith and football/soccer related devotionals. It could be a great tool or resource for helping to encourage a child or grandchild in their faith and in seeing the way that their faith can relate to soccer.

The Light is Coming is also written in Spanish and Portuguese as part of our 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup outreach. The Soccer Psalms is written in British english as The Football Psalms and in Spanish as Los Salmos del Fútbol and hopefully next year will be released in French and Portuguese — you can find each of these on Amazon, pretty much anywhere in the world!

If you have a team that you’d like to get the devotionals for or want to order in a large quantity to give away as gifts, please feel free to reach to me at brad@soccerchaplainsunited.org and we’d love to help you gift these to your team.

Have a wonderful Christmas!

From the Touchline is a short-feature podcast with Rev Brad Kenney, Founder and Executive Director of Soccer Chaplains United and Volunteer Chaplain to the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. Rev Brad and occasional guests touch on various issues around the topics of faith, family, and football (soccer).

Also, don’t forget that you can listen in our app, SoccrChapUtd, in the Apple and Google store.