Faith In The Game

Young in Heart, By Stephanie Cox

Stephanie Cox, 25, is one of the top young defenders in the world, and a member of the United States women’s national soccer team that moved past Brazil Sunday to reach the World Cup semifinals.

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I became a Christian at the ripe young age of four. As my mom tells the story, after watching a Christian kids’ TV show, I asked my mom if I was going to heaven. She told me how Jesus came to save us and to bring us to God. I asked Jesus into my heart and ever since then I have been a Christian.

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“Doctors and scientists said that breaking the four-minute mile was impossible, that one would die in the attempt. Thus, when I got up from the track after collapsing at the finish line, I figured I was dead.”  — Roger Bannister, after becoming the first person to break the four-minute mile in 1952

Work hard and become a leader; be lazy and never succeed. — Proverbs 12:24

Sometimes we like to post things that are not literally about faith or sports, but still have meaning about our essential selves. When he was given a serious diagnosis, Bruce Feiler formed a “council of dads,” each of whom represented a pillar in his life, so they might be able to carry on his teachings to his twin daughters. Please watch this and ask yourself, “Have I lived my life so that its meaning will be clear? And have I allowed myself to be known by others?”

You can read more about “The Council of Dads” by clicking here.

The Proving Ground, by Ben Petrick

Ben Petrick is co-editor of Faith In The Game. A former Major Leaguer with the Colorado Rockies and Detroit Tigers, Ben has Parkinson’s disease and recently underwent an aggressive surgery called Deep Brain Stimulation to alleviate his symptoms. A television news story on Ben’s amazing recovery can be found here. Ben chronicles his progress, along with stories of faith, family and baseball, in this blog.

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Challenges occur in life on a daily basis; some big, some small.  I have found that over the past couple of years as my relationship with Christ has deepened, these adversities just don’t have the hold on me that they once did.

If you read in James 1:2-4 the Bible says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” 

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“The skill of winning is exceeded by the need to master the skill of losing. If you don’t learn what to take from loss, you’ll never win.” — Rick Carlisle

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit…” — Psalms 34:18

Don’t Cry, Daddy — by Mo Isom

Mo Isom is a senior goalkeeper for the LSU women’s soccer team.

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I was reared in a happy home. A peaceful home. A humble home.  Being a “Christian” was what I knew and what was comfortable. But, like many young kids, that is where the pursuit of the faith rested stationary.

My parents were all that a young girl’s parents should be: supportive, passionate, encouraging, humble, patient, strict, loving, proud.   They sacrificed so much to see me succeed, whether it be in the classroom, my relationships, or my athletics.

I entered LSU a semester early and began to adjust to a very new life.  Eager to explore all that my new home had to offer, I was consumed by the excitement and intensity of change.  I stumbled, as many young freshmen do, in finding my identity and learning the ins and outs of my new routine, but I eventually found my footing and focused on my passion: soccer.

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Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle is a great friend to Faith In The Game, texting us often with thoughts for the day. They’ll be shared periodically on this blog. Here is today’s:

Give all your worries to Him, because He cares about you. — 1 Peter 5:7

God has a great race for you to run. Under His care you will go where you’ve never been and serve in ways you’ve never dreamed. But you have to drop some stuff. How can you share grace if you are full of guilt? How can you offer comfort if you are disheartened? How can you lift someone else’s load if your arms are full with your own?

There are certain weights in life you simply cannot carry. Your Lord is asking you to set them down and trust Him.

Travel light, my friends.

Make a difference today.

Love,

Clint

“Every kid around the world who plays soccer wants to be Pele. I have a great responsibility to show them not just how to be like a soccer player, but how to be like a man.” — Pele

“…For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more…” — Luke 12:4

Very interesting piece with Trevor Bayne, the 20-year-old Daytona winner who’s top-of-the-world ride was interrupted by a mysterious health scare.

Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle is a great friend to Faith In The Game, texting us often with thoughts for the day. They’ll be shared periodically on this blog. Here is today’s:

“I am the Lord. There is no other.” — Isaiah 45:18

We pay a high price for self-obsession. You’ve seen the chaos. Quite possibly you’ve created some on your own. The husband ignoring his wife. The parent ignoring his child. Grown men seducing the young. The young taking advantage of the old. The bullet proof athlete. The jackass Hollywood celebrity.

When you do what you want, and I do what I want, and no one gives a lick as to what God wants, humanity implodes.

“The infection of the person leads to the corruption of the populace…Extract God; expect earthly chaos and, many times worse, expect eternal misery.” — Max Lucado

Make a difference today.

Love,

Clint

“The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital.” — Joe Paterno

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. — Ephesians 6:10-18

My Kansas City Goodbye, by Joe Posnanski

The following is excerpted from writer Joe Posnanski’s story, “My Kansas City Goodbye,” in which takes a final drive around the city he’s called home for 15 years before moving his family to Charlotte.

One of those landmarks he visits is the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, which reminds him of Buck O’Neil, a man of great faith with whom Posnanski wrote the book, The Soul of Baseball.

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I came to Kansas City knowing nothing at all … not even what I wanted. I vaguely knew that I wanted to be a big city sports columnist. That was the biggest thing I could imagine when I was 29 years old.

The big city was New York, of course, it had to be New York. Well, Chicago could suffice. Washington might do. Los Angeles had a nice ring. Cleveland was home. Boston … oh, I loved Boston. It took time to figure out that the size of the place didn’t matter. It took time to understand that what I really wanted was to become a part of a place, to become a big voice in that place, maybe even to have a sandwich named for me in a local restaurant, to have my photo on billboards, to have my columns talked about in offices and factories and around the corner.

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Forgive and Get — by Dwyane Wade

Dwyane Wade and his Miami Heat teammates enter Game 3 of the NBA Finals tonight tied 1-1 with the Dallas Mavericks. Wade is a six-time All Star and the 2006 NBA Finals MVP. He was also named that year’s Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year. To visit his Wade’s World Foundation website, click here.

Jolinda Wade is Senior Pastor of the Temple of Praise Binding and Loosing Ministries in Chicago, Ill. Please click here to visit the website for Jolinda Wade Ministries. Click here to see a video of the day she opened the church Dwyane bought for her.

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To me, living life right is about showing mercy when you don’t necessarily have to or want to. But you never know when mercy is going to change everything in someone’s life. Sometimes mercy is what it takes to lift a burden and let someone turn the page.

 My parents split up when I was an infant. At that point, my mom just gave in to all her demons. Many people have heard the story of how I grew up on the Southside of Chicago. My mom sold drugs out of our apartment, and was addicted to heroin, cocaine and alcohol. I saw my mother shoot up. I saw needles lying around our house.

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The Weight, by Ben Petrick

Ben Petrick is co-editor of Faith In The Game. A former Major Leaguer with the Colorado Rockies and Detroit Tigers, Ben has Parkinson’s disease and recently underwent an aggressive surgery called Deep Brain Stimulation to alleviate his symptoms. A television news story on Ben’s amazing recovery can be found here. Ben chronicles his progress, along with stories of faith, family and baseball, in this blog.

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Voltaire wrote, “Perfect is the enemy of the good.” It’s a phrase that was true when I was an athlete, and even truer in my life now.

If you were to ask my childhood teammates what they remember about me from those days, I’m sure my tendency to cry after games would come up. It was pretty much a ritual, as I was born with a painfully strong, unquenchable longing to be perfect — or at least appear to be. 

This issue continued to swell inside me as I grew older, even as my successes piled up just as fast. Vanity and insecurity filled me by the time I reached the Major Leagues. Whenever I struggled, I wondered, “How must this look to others? What will others think of me when they find out I’ve failed?” Inside I felt like nothing more than a massive collection of others’ perceptions, rather than someone leavened by his own self-awareness.

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Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

— William Ernest Henley

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. — Romans 5:3-4