When I was in my 20s, I played parts of three seasons of professional baseball in Mexico. I got saved after my first week of playing in Mexico. A lot of things led up to that week. For the sake of time, I’ll just share a few things. I was born and raised in New York, but I had been living in Los Angeles, California for about 2 ½ years. Well about 5 months before I got saved, my roommate got saved. He was originally from Pennsylvania bur we were college teammates. While our testimonies were different (he was into drugs, I was into chasing women) we were both ballplayers. He never actively witnessed to me, but I did notice a change in him, what I like to call a “passive witness”. The next thing was all the bumper stickers with scriptures I was seeing. I mean I’ve seen them before but now I’m “noticing that I’m noticing them.” At night, when I went to bed, I would be thinking about them and I’d ask myself, “Why am I thinking about them?” Well, obviously the Holy Spirit was working on me. Finally, the pizza restaurant I started working at had 3 Christian girls working there and I started dating one.

PLAY BALL

When I went to my first spring training in Mexico, the girl I was dating gave me a Bible. Spring training in Mexico is completely different than in this country. Here, in the states it’s anywhere from 9 to 11 hours. In Mexico it’s only about 2 hours. Well, I don’t speak Spanish, I don’t drink, and I was afraid to chase women in a foreign land. So, in my down time in my room I had plenty of time and I stated reading it. Well as you can imagine, the conviction of the Holy Spirit got all over me. In the middle of the 2^nd day of reading, I started crying. I’d always believed in God, and I thought I was a good person, but I knew something was wrong. I’d heard the terms saved, lost and born again but I had no idea what they meant.

There was a ballplayer in LA I used to work out with, and I had played with and against him. He was saved and he had a reputation among other ballplayers that he was on “The Word!”  I heard he was in Mexico, but I had no idea where he was. I wanted to talk to him, but I had no way of contacting him. Mind you, this was way before cell phones, texting, emails, etc. Well, the next day I made the team and the other two Americans who spoke fluent Spanish were cut. A week later we went on our first road trip, and lo and behold, we were playing his team. I didn’t realize it at the time but the Holy Ghost was working it all out. After the game I had dinner and spent the night at his apartment where he showed me some scriptures and led me in prayer to accept the Lord. My life took a 180° turn that night and it’s been a growing process ever since.

 IN THE REAL WORLD

While working for the phone company for almost 25 years, God used my experiences in dealing with a major corporation, a union, coworkers and directly with customers to teach me how to avoid getting offended and about and the power of your words. I’m currently a high school and college umpire, another opportunity to practice not getting offended.

EVERY MAN’S MAN

I believe God purposely chose a regular guy like me to show that He can prosper anyone and use you to be a blessing to others. Learning God’s Word through the years showed me how to manage daily life experience successfully. If you believe and act on God’s Word and put it into practice, you will see the desired results. Don’t let anything stop you from doing what God has put on your heart. Selah!