"At eight months, my mom left me at a beauty salon...;" Coach Christopher Seay explained to The War Cry staff in a group interview on August 27.   He continued, illustrating his journey from being abandoned as an infant, to his current position on the Brookwood coaching staff.

After living with various family members for about four years, Seay was put into foster care.  He was continually placed in good homes, but he found them all to be "already established."  Coach Seay explained, "They all had their own kids."  These feelings eventually caused Seay to develop a new habit:  running.  "Around four or five I started to run away, but how far can a five year old get?  They always found me." 

Around this time Seay was placed in a children's home with approximately 200 other kids, but he continued to run.  "It was like, every other week I was running away, for three years."  At age nine, Seay was adopted by a new family.  "Once again it was a family that was already set, had kids.  I was in great family homes, but I didn't feel wanted because they already had everything together. "

Seay continued to move back and forth between different foster homes and members of his biological family.  At one point, he was even homeless.  He lived in a white, two-door Buick parked in a junkyard.  "I would eat wherever I could.  I was dumpster diving for about three or four months," Seay says.  Fortunately, however, it was about this time that Seay began to go to church, where he was often fed.  Not only did the church offer physical support for Seay, but spiritual support as well. Seay says of the time, "I always leaned back towards God...;I prayed every night in that car."

While Seay lived in the junkyard, he began to become acquainted with a man who worked there.  As the two talked, the older man mentioned that he had a son named Chris Seay.  Seay was surprised; he had met his father a long time ago, but he did not remember him.  Seay laughs, "I was like, 'well, my name is Chris Seay,' "

Though he was reunited with his father, he never told him that he was homeless.  His father, therefore, did not mend the situation but was someone Seay could talk to.  Finally leaving the junkyard, Seay was placed in a group home.  This time, though, he was determined to remain optimistic.  "I wasn't looking at the worst thing," he recalled.  "I did that for two or three years, and then I was in high school."

Returning to his biological family, Seay moved to his aunt's house where he was abused for three years.  "You know, I kept believing," he said of the situation.  "I kept seeking and asking God, 'Why me?'  I got to that last fireball, and I was just tired of it; I had to go.  I ran away."  Returning to the junkyard where he was homeless again, his optimism was put to the test.

Seay finally decided to return to his mother in a home he had not been part of since infanthood.  Miraculously, Seay was able to forgive her for the difficulties her decision caused him.  "If you do something once, it's a mistake.  If you do it again, it's a stupid decision," he noted, collectedly but heartfelt.   Unfortunately, his mother did not return his positive attitude.  Seay was subjected to her abusive boyfriend, and, in an attempt to protect her, told to leave the house.

It was then that he went to his father, living with him for his last year of high school.  Developing a wonderful relationship with him, Seay had not only a good father but a big-brother figure.  The strength of this relationship was proven when his father was the only family member present when Seay signed a full scholarship to St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa.

In Iowa, Seay played defensive back for the St. Ambrose Fighting Bees.  In 2003 he received a degree in Special Education. 

From there, things have only gotten better for Coach Seay.  He says of his current position at Brookwood, "God lead me here. I was always searching for a group of people who would treat me as part of a family."  He believes he's found that in the Brookwood community.  It has always been a dream of Seay's to be a head coach. At Brookwood, he hopes to encourage his players by just being himself.    Seay concluded his story with a poignant statement, "Now I don't have to run away, I can run to something."