He is a cornerback in the NFL, who is currently a free agent. He played college football for the University of Michigan from 2005 to 2008. He was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the sixth round of the 2009 NFL Draft. Since then, he has played for the Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Washington Redskins.
He said of his faith, “I grew up in a Christian home and my parents made sure that I knew how important it was to live for God. I did my best through my high school years and even into college, and I never let peer pressure affect me. Then, toward the end of my freshman year, I discovered that my girlfriend of the last six years had been cheating on me. This turned my world upside down. From that point on I decided that I was going to party and surround myself with women instead of letting the Lord heal my pain. I was the new life of the party, but I didn’t feel right. Even then I could sense God pulling me back toward Him.
“A few months later a good friend was drafted into the NFL and wanted me to visit. I knew what kind of things he liked to do–drink, party and be with women. I knew I shouldn’t go, but I went anyway. It was the one time I really gave in to peer pressure. For the next two years I was scared to face God. I feared I wasn’t worthy of forgiveness. But, in 2006, I went back to church. I found that God welcomed me with open arms. It felt so good to be back where I belonged and growing closer with God.
“Living for the Lord isn’t easy and we all fall at times. But I’d rather live for Him than for anything this world has to offer.”
She is a professional soccer midfielder and forward who currently plays for FC Kansas City in the National Women’s Soccer League and the United States women’s national soccer team. She is also is a two-time Olympic gold medalist from both 2008 and 2012. Additionally, she also played in the 2011 and 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup. In 2014, she was named U.S. Soccer Female Athlete of the Year. As a star player on the United States women’s national soccer team, she helped her team reach a record third World Cup with a 5-2 victory over Japan.
In an interview with Fellowship of Christian Athletes after losing the 2011 World Cup, she said: “I learned to give God the praise in the highs and the lows. That’s not easy. It’s not easy to lose the World Cup and say, ‘Thank You, Lord,’ because it hurts. But our lives are completely full of highs and lows, and I’m so grateful that my confidence is in Christ. My identity in the Lord will never be shaken. My career will come and go, but remaining faithful has made my relationship with Him so much stronger.”
“I try to think of the verse in Romans 12:1 every time I play. ‘Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship.’ At the World Cup, I was playing in the biggest tournament of my life and playing a position I was unfamiliar with. I just remember thinking, ‘Lord, this is my act of worship.’ I try to keep in mind that He gave me this talent. This isn’t for me; it’s for Him. That gives me so much joy.”
She said, “Once you’re in the spotlight and profess that you’re a believer, people want you to fall. They immediately want to point out your flaws, and that’s hard because everyone’s going to make mistakes. But if I’m going to proclaim Christ’s name, I want people to see it. Making decisions by following the Spirit makes that a lot easier. That’s the most important part. That’s why God has given us this platform. And when I speak to a young girl, I hope she’ll see Christ in me the same way I saw Him in my coach so long ago and that she’ll want to have Him too. And that’s absolutely why I play the game.”
He is a former racing car driver, television broadcaster, and author. He is a 3-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, a 3-time NASCAR Cup Series runner-up, and winner of the Daytona 500 in 1989, and a 5-time winner of the Series’ longest race—the Coca-Cola 600. He still holds many NASCAR records, more than a decade after his retirement as an active driver. He has received numerous awards including NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver Award, American Driver of the Year, and NASCAR’s Driver of the Decade in the 1980s. He was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2012. He is the lead television analyst and race commentator with Fox, a columnist at Foxsports.com, and an author.
He said of his faith, “In 1983 I wasn’t very popular. I was a smart-mouthed, cocky, arrogant sports figure. Then a couple of things got my attention. First, I had a serious accident in Daytona; it was a really ugly scene. After that crash, I said to myself, ‘My priorities are right.’ I was so wrapped up in my professional life. I never thought about a commitment to God.
As I became more and more successful, I would think, ‘I have a great life, but I have this hollow feeling.’ I looked at what I had accomplished and what I had won, and realized there was no glory there. Soon I met minister named Dr. Cortez Cooper, and we developed a solid relationship. He was the first minister in my life who could really make the Bible come alive. With his help, I accepted Jesus as my Savior. I have learned that God is there all the time.”
“I’ve been a Christian since 1983 but even then I was more interested in what I wanted than what God wanted. As I began to grow as a Christian I began to realize that there were more things in life more important than winning races and what I thought. I began to see that serving God needed to be first. God showed me just how blessed I was in having such a strong Christian wife and how children are a true blessing as well. The most important thing to do is to pray and study the Bible. God can take your need and bless you as well as others around you if you put Him first.”
His name is Darrell Waltrip.
This is the “Chief of Sinners,” Daniel Whyte III, president of Gospel Light Society International, reminding you of what the Bible says, that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” like you and me. Just as Darrell Waltrip gave his life to Christ, may I encourage you to do the same. Here is how:
1. Accept the fact that you are a sinner, and that you have broken God’s law. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 7:20: “For there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good, and sinneth not.” Romans 3:23 reads: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” In fact, I am the chief of sinners, so don’t think that you’re alone.
2. Accept the fact that there is a penalty for sin. The Bible states in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death…”
3. Accept the fact that you are on the road to hell. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 10:28: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” The Bible says in Revelation 21:8: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”
4. Accept the fact that you cannot do anything to save yourself! The Bible states in Ephesians 2: 8, 9: “For by grace are ye saved through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is a gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
5. Accept the fact that God loves you more than you love yourself, and that He wants to save you from hell. Jesus Christ said in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
6. With these facts in mind, please repent of your sins, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and pray and ask Him to come into your heart and save you this very moment. The Bible states in the book of Romans 10:9, 13: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Dear friend, if you are willing to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, please pray with me this simple prayer: Heavenly Father, I realize that I am a sinner and that I have done some bad things in my life. For Jesus Christ sake, please forgive me of my sins. I now believe with all of my heart that Jesus Christ died for me, was buried, and rose again. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and save my soul and change my life today. Amen.
If you believed in your heart that Jesus Christ died on the cross, was buried, and rose again, allow me to say, congratulations on doing the most important thing in life and that is accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour! For more information to help you grow in your newfound faith in Christ, go to Gospel Light Society.com and read “What To Do After You Enter Through the Door”. Jesus Christ said in John 10:9, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”
Remember, friend, Believe by faith. Share the faith. and Keep the faith!
He is a professional basketball player who plays the center and power forward positions for the Boston Celtics of the NBA. In high school, he was named “Mr. Basketball” as well as a McDonald’s All-American. He played college basketball at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was named the ACC Player of the Year in his senior year. In 2009, North Carolina won the NCAA championship against Michigan State. He was selected by the Dallas Mavericks in the 2012 NBA draft and traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers that same night. He played for the Cavaliers from 2012 to 2014 before being traded to the Boston Celtics.
In an interview with Athletes In Action, he said of his faith, “I’ve got to give my parents a lot of credit for making me the person I am today. They took me to church every Sunday. As a little kid you draw pictures and everything, but over time you start to develop an appreciation for that, and you start to pay attention.
I came to faith my freshman year of high school. My brother took me to a couple of Bible studies and then to a camp, which is really where I got to know Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I embraced that as my own – what He did for us, how He died on the cross and took all our sins away and gave us the life that we shouldn’t be able to have.
Being competitive and being a Christian can go hand in hand. You’ve got to go out and play hard and compete, but you also have to do it in a Christian way. If you lose, you can be hard on yourself, but you don’t want to go curse up a storm, hit somebody and all this. It’s about the way you act. You can be very competitive, but you’ve got to be able to win in the right way and lose in the right way.
Audience of One is a huge concept in my life. It means that even though you have all these fans and things going on, your audience is really only God. Your main focus is on what He believes about you, not what all these people think. Maybe you missed a game-winning shot and you’re very frustrated. But God still loves you, and there’s a purpose for everything. Maybe He wanted you to miss that shot to learn a lesson, or there’s something down the road, or maybe you just weren’t supposed to win that game. There’s always something. When you can understand that, it makes life so much easier. You can go out – you’re going to lose, you’re going to be frustrated at times – but you can come back and know that God’s got a purpose for you. He’s going to give you what you need to have, but He’s also going to challenge you in ways. When you face challenges, it’s going to develop perseverance in you and help you, and going forward it will make you a stronger person and a stronger Christian.
The line that I always use is Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” I know if you look at the actual verse it’s not speaking in terms of basketball, but God really does strengthen me emotionally and physically. He’s always with me, always getting me through things, in basketball and in life.”
Dave Goldberg was an American entrepreneur and a Silicon Valley executive. He was the founder of LAUNCH Media and the CEO of SurveyMonkey, a company valued at $1 billion. He was, by all accounts, happily married for eleven years and had two children. Earlier this month, while on vacation in Mexico, he collapsed while exercising and died later that day at a hospital. He was only 47 years old, and the news of his death came as a shock to the tech industry and people who had known him and worked with him down through the years.
The unexpectedness of Dave Goldberg’s death reminds us of the fragility of life. It also reminds us that success, financial stability, and fulfillment in life cannot insulate us from death. One moment all can be going well; the next moment, tragedy strikes and our world is upended. We are reminded of the Bible’s words, “What is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” King David wrote in Psalm 39: “LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.” The death of David Goldberg reminds us that we need to be ready for what comes after death — a meeting with God and the beginning of life in an eternal destination. At any moment, despite our past good fortune and despite our plans for the future, we can suddenly and unexpectedly cross the line from life to death. The question is: Are you prepared?
Today, you have the opportunity to make sure that you will spend eternity in Heaven with God by accepting Jesus Christ as your Saviour. Please don’t put off this decision, for as we see from the life of Dave Goldberg, we do not know what tomorrow holds.
Do you want the certainty of knowing that you are going to Heaven no matter when you die or how you die? If so, allow me to share with you three simple steps that you need to take to give your life to Jesus Christ today and be assured of a home in Heaven for all eternity.
First, recognize that your sins have separated you from God. Our sins are the bad or wrong things that we do. Everyone in the world has sinned. The Bible says, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” In honest repentance, agree with God about your sinfulness and admit your need for forgiveness. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he [God] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Second, realize that God loves you, and believe that his sinless Son, Jesus Christ, died for your sins — taking the punishment that you deserve. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Romans 5:8 says, “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Because of Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross, we do not have to suffer eternal death and punishment in Hell.
Third, accept Jesus Christ’s invitation to Heaven by receiving Him by faith as your Savior from sin’s consequences. Romans 10:9 & 13 says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
If you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead, and you want to trust Him for your salvation today, please pray with me this simple prayer: Holy Father God, I realize that I am a sinner and that I have done some bad things in my life. I am sorry for my sins and for Jesus Christ sake, please forgive me of my sins. I believe with all of my heart that Jesus Christ died for me, was buried, and rose again. I trust Jesus Christ as my Savior and please give me the power of your Holy Spirit to follow Him as Lord from this day forward. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and save my soul and change my life today. Amen.
If you just trusted Jesus Christ as your Saviour, and you prayed that prayer and meant it from your heart, I declare to you that based upon the Word of God, you are now saved from Hell and you are on your way to Heaven. Welcome to the family of God! Congratulations on doing the most important thing in life and that is trusting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. For more information to help you grow in your newfound faith in Christ, go to Gospel Light Society.com and read “What To Do After You Enter Through the Door.” Jesus Christ said in John 10:9, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”
Believe by faith. Share the faith. And keep the faith! God Bless You!
She is the owner, founder and lead designer of Magnolia Homes, a remodeling and design business in Waco, Texas. Magnolia Homes is a creative compilation of construction with a heavy emphasis on quality and unique design. She, along with her husband, are the hosts of the HGTV show “Fixer Upper.” “Fixer Upper” shows the process by which they turn dilapidated but potential-rich houses into showplaces that are helping revitalize whole neighborhoods throughout central Texas. She graduated from Baylor University with a degree in Communications. Her passion is to create inspiring spaces that encourage others to do the same thing in their own homes.
In an interview with Charisma News, she spoke of how God spoke to her and how she has learned to trust His plan for her life. She said, “I heard God say very clearly… he said, ‘Joanna if you trust me with your dreams, I’m going to take Magnolia (a boutique she owned) further than you ever dreamed.’ I look back and I go, ‘God, your promise that you spoke years ago, I’m now seeing. I trusted you with my dream and you took it far beyond what I ever could have dreamed or imagined.'” She continued, “I really believe that God has a purpose for me. But he also has a purpose for you and on the other side of that is the enemy where he knows where to hit. Let God speak in your life. Let his father heart come and say, ‘this is what I have for you.’ And I think that’s the key — not believing the lies, fixing our eyes on Jesus and walking in that truth.”
She is a professional basketball player for the Minnesota Lynx of the WNBA. She played college basketball at the University of Virginia and was named the ACC Rookie of the Year. As a senior, she was named ACC Player of the Year, ACC Defensive Player of the Year, and National Defensive Player of the Year. She was also selected as a member of the USA Women’s U19 team which won the gold medal at the 2007 FIBA U19 World Championship in Slovakia. She has won two WNBA championship titles in 2011 and 2013.
In an interview with CBN, she talked about her faith in Jesus Christ. As a new college student at UVA, she was focused on playing basketball and making good grades. She said of that time, “I’m a basketball player, so I need to play basketball and do well on the court; I need to make good grades so that I can stay eligible. There was no time to try to figure out who I was because who I was, was a student-athlete at that time.” Besides playing and studying, she also partied and by the time she arrived at her senior year, she began to feel that something was missing in her life. She said, “Once you come to your end you want to make sure that there was probably a little bit more purpose to your journey. You want to look back and see, ‘what did I do? What was my legacy?’ I felt like maybe I should be doing something more constructive. There was something missing.”
Around that time, she began to notice the difference in the lives of other Christian athletes. She said, “There was something I desired they had, and I wanted to know what it was but I never went up to them and asked them. Maybe it was something I was afraid of or insecure about so God came up to me.” After meeting a local pastor on a bus ride one day, she began studying the Bible with his wife on a regular basis. She said, “At first I was trying to find fault with her and see where I could catch her in a contradiction. At the time I was taking a German philosophy class where I learned about Martin Luther and his works. Both the class and the pastor’s wife challenged my thinking. I’m reading these books (95 Thesis) and studying with this lady about the Bible, the solidity of the Bible, and what the Bible is and how true it is and how can we be sure. She really wanted me to search it out for myself and read who canonized the Bible, the Council of Nicea, what happened? When people were deciding what books to put in the Bible; what books were left out? Why were they left out?”
The more she studied, the more God began to work in her life and she started making some changes. She said, “I just stopped cold turkey stopped doing some of the things I was doing; drinking, going out, partying, dressing in a certain way. My language changed altogether. My attitude changed about my teammates and basketball changed altogether.” After further Bible study, she began to realize that she needed more than just knowledge. She said, “Okay, I’m over this. I’ve looked and studied and read everything there is to read, bottom line is me as a person I’m not who I want to be. I’ve read scripture upon scripture about how I can change my everyday life. I’ve done it, I’ve put it into action. Overall I can’t be who I need to be without Christ.”
After a while, she went to a small church and gave her heart to Jesus Christ. After she was baptized, she said, “I had people there who knew me as well but didn’t know I was studying the Bible and they were like, ‘wow, is this the Monica we know?’ And it was awesome, I went into the tub they dunked me in and it was just great. I never cry—and I never, ever cry in public—but that day I bawled. I let it out in front of the whole church. I couldn’t contain it.” SIx weeks later in April 2010, her lifelong dream of playing in the WNBA came true as she was selected by the Minnesota Lynx as the second overall pick.
She said, “God has spoken to my heart and said this is a pause in preparation for more that I have planned for you in the future. I trust Him. I’m just going to hold fast to those promises and knowing that He has the best intent for me and He knows exactly what I need.”
He is a professional basketball player who currently plays the point guard position for the Los Angeles Clippers of the NBA. He played college basketball at Wake Forest University. He was drafted by the New Orleans Hornets and played there from 2005 to 2011 before joining the Clippers. He won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in 2006 and an Olympic gold medal with USA Men’s basketball team in 2008 and 2012. He also led the NBA in assists four times and steals six times from 2008 to 2015. He has also been selected to eight NBA All-Star teams, six All-NBA teams, and six All-Defensive teams. Since 2013, he has served as the National Basketball Players Association president.
He said of his faith: “I am a Christian. I grew up in the church and still go to church every Sunday if we don’t have practice. It’s always something that my parents instilled in me. I’ve grown to be pretty devout in my faith. I am so thankful that my parents raised me and my brother, C.J. to depend on God’s guidance and our faith in Him, and to always be thankful for what we receive. As I went through the past year, I just kept trying to have fun, knowing that I was playing basketball at the highest level, and remain humble, keeping in mind that all this [I have received] could be taken away from me as fast as it was happening.”
He is a professional basketball player who currently plays the point guard position for the Golden State Warriors of the NBA. He played college basketball for Davidson University where he was twice named Southern Conference Player of the Year and set the all-time scoring record for both Davidson and the Southern Conference. He also set the single-season NCAA record for three-pointers made in his Sophomore year. He was twice named an NBA All-Star and in the 2014-2015 season, exceeded his own NBA record of 272 three-pointers with his 273rd on April 9, 2015. He is a two-time gold medalist as a member of the United States men’s national basketball team in both 2010 and 2014. He is also a silver medalist with the Under-19 USA team in 2007.
He is the current head coach of the University of Connecticut men’s basketball team. He played for 12 teams in the NBA for 13 seasons from 1997 to 2010. His teams included the Dallas Mavericks, the Philadelphia 76ers, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Oklahoma City Thunder. In 2012, he was named the head basketball coach at Connecticut, replacing longtime hall of fame coach Jim Calhoun. In 2014, he led the Huskies to defeat top-ranked Florida in the First Final Four national semifinal of the NCAA Tournament. They went on to beat the Kentucky Wildcats in the championship game that same year for Connecticut’s fourth NCAA men’s championship in fifteen years. Continue reading “UConn Coach, Kevin Ollie, ‘On a Personal Crusade to Lift Christ Up in Everything I Do’ (Gospel Light Minute #193)”→
He is a professional NBA basketball player who currently plays for the Dallas Mavericks. He was selected by the Houston Rockets in the first round of the 2001 NBA draft. He previously played for the New Jersey Nets, the Milwaukee Bucks, the San Antonio Spurs, the Golden State Warriors, and the Utah Jazz. In 2002, he was selected to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team. He was also a member of the USA men’s national basketball team at the 2003 Tournament of the Americas and the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics.
His parents were both Christian missionaries, and he moved frequently throughout his young life. He said, “My life has always been a mix of church and basketball. But through tough moments and times of extreme growth, I still have confidence, not because of my athletic success but because of Philippians 4:13. ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’ When I step out on the court I don’t believe there’s anybody I can’t guard, I don’t believe that there’s a shot that I can’t make.”
He also said, “I don’t think anyone can call themselves a finely-tuned Christian. It’s an everyday struggle. I’m a perfectionist, and if I mess up I’ll feel so guilty that I won’t read my Bible, then it’s a snowball effect. I really need to get to [that place of] consistency. I know God is teaching me, and I feel extremely blessed.”
He plays the position of offensive lineman for the St. Louis Rams of the NFL. After high school, he played college football at the University of Alabama, started three BCS National Championship Games at three different positions in 2010, 2012, and 2013. After his 2011 season, he was recognized as a consensus All-American and won the Outland Trophy for being the best lineman in college football. After the 2012 season, he won the Rimington Trophy for being the best center in college football. He was chosen by the Rams during the 2013 NFL draft. In 2014, he was named one of the recipients of the Today’s Top 10 Award, given annually by the NCAA to 10 outstanding student-athletes.
He said of his faith in Jesus Christ, “I was saved at a young age. I had really good parents who took me to church, and I started asking them why they went to church all the time and called themselves Christians. Once they explained it to me, I wanted to be a Christian too. Football has played a big part in my life and at times, it has been a big stumbling block. What I’ve learned is to make Jesus the Lord of your life. When I was growing up, sports were really everything. I focused on sports, and all I wanted to do was get a college scholarship. I really focused only on playing, practicing and working out in the off-seasons in sports. Pretty much everything I did was geared toward how I could be a better athlete. I spent the majority of my time on that.”
“As I got into college, it was the same thing but even more so because we practiced so much more and worked out so much more. I really defined myself as an athlete more so than a Christian who happened to be an athlete. I got hurt one year, and God really started showing me that if this is the most important thing in your life, if this is what you’re putting all your emphasis on, you’re going to be empty. That’s something God has continued to teach me, especially when we won the national championship. I remember holding the crystal football and thinking to myself, ‘This is great, but it’s not going to fulfill me in life.’ It was such a short-lived feeling and that led me to realize that nothing was going to fulfill me but a relationship with Jesus Christ.”
He went on to say, “As I read through the Bible, that’s evident throughout the whole Bible. John 6:35 says, ‘I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to me will never hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst.’ I think that verse describes what I’m talking about. Nothing can fill that void in your heart except a relationship with Jesus Christ. Even though I’m saved, I have to teach myself that daily, because I sometimes try to fill that void with other things like sports, school work, girls or whatever. Nothing is ever going to fulfill that but Christ; that’s just how we were designed.”
She is an English professional golfer who turned professional in 1983. That same years she joined the Ladies European Tour. Ten years later, she joined the U.S. based LPGA Tour and was rookie of the year in her first season. She made the top 100 on the LPGA Tour money list nine times. In 1989, she won the Open de France Dames and in 1991, she won the AGF Ladies’ Open. She played a full tournament schedule until 2004, and now runs her own golf academy based in Knoxville, Tennessee. In addition to that, she is a golf coach at Carson–Newman University in Jefferson City, Tennessee.
She said of her faith, “I grew up in a good family environment, playing lots of sports— especially golf. I attended the church of England, but I didn’t understand how I could have a ‘personal relationship’ with Jesus. How could He hear me? Why would He listen? Another tour player told me about Jesus’ love. She shared of how I could repent or turn away from my sin and receive forgiveness in and through the person of Jesus Christ. I saw a daily difference in the lives of some Christians I knew. In 1983, wanting to know God in that same way, by faith through prayer I received Him as my Savior and Lord. God does listen and care! He answers my prayers. He is in my life—in my heart, in my mind, and in my friendships. He has even shown me ways that I can give back and experience greater fulfillment than I find in sinking a putt. He is always with me.”
He is a former professional baseball player. Over his 11 year career, he played for the Texas Rangers, the St. Louis Cardinals, and the New York Mets as well as the Montreal Expos and the Baltimore Orioles. He currently holds the Major League record for RBIs in an inning, becoming the only player in MLB history to hit two gran slam home runs in one inning during a 1999 game. He played his last game in 2010 before officially retiring in 2014. In 2008, he received The Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year Award for the National League and was named to the Dominican Republic national baseball team for the 2009 World Baseball Classic.
In an interview with CBN, he said of his faith, “In those difficult moments in my life, I pray. I pray and continue to pray. I know that God has the answer. Not in the moment that I want, but I know in His moment, because I know that His moment is going to be the right moment….I’m different, because I’m a Christian. Every Christian should be different. Faith is everything. If you put God in your heart and ask Him, ‘I want the real deal,’ God is going to answer you. He’s going to support you. It’s the best relationship ever. More than your wife, your mother, you father. Jesus is going to support you in every moment of your life.”
He is an American volleyball player on the United States men’s national volleyball team. He played on the AVP tour from 2000 to 2006 and then resumed it in 2009. He led the U.S. National Team to a gold medal in the Beijing Olympics in 2008. In 1998 and 1999, he earned AVCA second-team All-America honors. And in 2013, he was named “Most Valuable Player” of the Men’s CEV Cup in the European CEV Cup volleyball club tournament.
He said of his faith, “I grew up in a family of faith, so I was introduced at an early age to the reality of God and Jesus. I didn’t question it. After college, however, the more I studied, the more I began to question everything. I didn’t take anything at face value. But I remember, in my most skeptical moment, I couldn’t get past the awe and wonder of creation and the reality of God.”
He continued, “Just as my faith is a process, so too is my understanding of what it means to be a Christian athlete. I believe that God is most glorified when I use the gifts He has given me to the best of my ability. He has given us all special gifts and I believe it brings Him pleasure when those gifts are used to the maximum. To me this means that I can compete to win with utmost intensity and it can glorify Him. Faith and life with God is a daily process and God communicates with me throughout the process…God has used the sport of volleyball to teach me how to be a better man. It is my hope that as I compete and try to excel and be the best player and teammate that I can be, that God will be pleased and glorified. This is a great reminder at the beginning of a new season to pursue greatness (no matter what you are doing) in the name of God and clinging to the strength He provides. Not with the end goal of winning—though it can be a goal and is a part of the process—but rather to become more like God and glorify Him.”
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