We all think about the fun and excitement of a big game, but we are at our best only if we have been committed to working hard in preparation beforehand. In baseball, we like to dream about getting the game-winning hit or throwing the rally-ending strike out, but that will likely only come true if we put sweat and practice into making ourselves better. Baseball success, like any other sport, comes when we do the behind-the-scenes work. This means that when we are at home, we need to be running, doing the exercises our coaches assign and getting enough sleep. And in practice, we must work on mechanics, think through game situations and do all the repetitions of batting, running the bases and backing up throws. All of this preparation gets us ready for game time.

One thing I love about FCA is how it ties our athletic lives into our faith. A lot of similarities can be drawn between Christianity and sports.

I own a funeral home, and I therefore attend a lot of funerals. One sermon I’ve heard a few times that I really like is about the dash. The dash that is talked about is the dash put on a headstone between the date of birth and the date of death. The point the pastor makes is that what is important is what is lived out in that dash between your date of birth and your date of death.

More than thirty years later there is still evidence that my front tooth took a chunk of wood out of my mom’s furniture. When my two older brothers and I were kids, we invented a game called “Walkie-Talkie.” I know a walkie-talkie is a portable, handheld communication device, but we hijacked the name because it perfectly fit our game. When I think back on it, I’m pretty sure it was really just a game that allowed my brothers to inflict bodily harm on me, but I wasn’t smart enough to figure that out. I was just thankful they wanted to do something with their youngest brother. (Do I hear an “Amen!” from all the youngest kids out there?)

When I was playing professional lacrosse, I was the only Christian on my team (as far as I knew). I was outspoken about my faith during my four years of playing, and I never had another player share with me about their faith in Jesus. I felt God had placed me on the team to be a light. As the token Christian player, my teammates selected me to do the team prayer. Usually, if it was a big game, I would have a player say something like, “Pray a GOOD one Dan. This is a huge game!” The mentality was that a “good” prayer would lead us to victory; a “bad” prayer would lead to defeat.