Ben Zobrist is my hero.
Ben, for those of you in the dark, is the Tampa Bay Rays’ super utility player who has a penchant for hitting pinch hit grand slam home runs (Barb and I saw one of these on April 17). That’s a nifty gift.
He is also a Christian, whose words, at least, give testimony of so much of what I want to see not only in Christian athletes, but also in Christian teachers, Christian lawyers, Christian custodians, Christian pastors, and Christian moms and dads.
In an interview posted a few years ago on Challies.com, before Ben’s star really began to rise (there are those making a good case that he should be on this year’s AL All-Star Team), Ben talked about what it meant for Christ to be the Lord of his life as a professional baseball player.
“I try to be excellent at my job, because I know God wants me to give my best to be a walking witness and ambassador of the excellence of Jesus Christ. My teammates and coaches are watching to see if my relationship with Christ makes me any different on the ballfield, and I pray that God will be represented in my play as excellent. At the same time, I am seeking to be an active part of the body of Christ among ballplayers by using the spiritual gifts God has given me to encourage and build up my fellow teammates as well as the Baseball Chaplain that ministers to us on a weekly basis. We have weekly bible studies and Sunday morning chapel services. The nature of the game also gives me great opportunity to visit and share my faith in Christ on a regular basis with individuals, schools, and churches. So I try to use that platform to give glory to God as well.”
Even more encouraging is to hear him speak of the importance of his church in his life.
“We listen to our home church pastor Byron Yawn’s sermons through podcast. I am part of a men’s Theology class at church as well, and one of the men sends me an mp3 of the study that week. We keep up with prayer requests and activities through massive church emails. Pastor Byron calls every so often to check on us to see how we are doing. We also try to do a mass update to everyone every so often to let everyone know how we are doing and how to pray. Prayer is the main role the local church plays in our lives during the season. Prayer is powerful and much needed as it seems there are few ballplayers that have a strong connection to a local church back home that is praying for them.”
That speaks volumes not only about Ben’s commitment to the church, but about the church’s commitment to Ben. Pretty important.
When asked what prayer needs pro ballplayers have, his answer revealed a lot of maturity.
“Pray first and foremost against idolatry for us. It is easy to make success in our sport an idol when you want to be excellent. It is easy to set ourselves above others and most grievously above God when people treat you “special”, almost like an idol. Pray for right perspective and constant humility against our prideful flesh.”
So, Ben is my hero.
But can it get any better? Any more amazing?
On his list of books recently read?
How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler.
Amazing.