The life of a coach goes something like this: gets up early, goes to office, teaches class or watches film, meets with other coaches, has a lunch meeting, goes over more film, reviews scouting reports, teaches more class, prepares for team meetings, has team meetings, has team practice, has follow-up meetings with coaches and players, and finally leaves for home. Once they get home, they review homework, chat with their spouse, spend time with kids, read a bedtime story, make a couple of calls, and finally eat dinner.

Obviously, the life of a coach is a busy one — sometimes too busy. But is something missing? How could anything more possibly fit into that busy day? What is missing is vitally important, eternally important. This is where the squeeze comes in.

As a sophomore in junior college, playing baseball was the primary way I found value in life. However, when it turned out that I wasn’t cutting it on the baseball field, my coach told me to consider trying football. He’d often said that “we reap what we sow” during his talks about how Jesus Christ could impact our lives and even our baseball careers. Personally, my motivation had always been self-centered and about me. But I was now facing the end of something I had depended on since childhood to get the affirmation I craved. The Holy Spirit had been calling me, though, and later that day, I accepted Jesus as my Savior and Lord.

I’ve been in the Major Leagues for more than 10 years with the Baltimore Orioles. Looking back I can think of specific guys who were crucial to my development and maturity as a person and a baseball player. Now, as a veteran, I feel that it’s my role to share what I’ve learned from my experiences in the same way guys did with me when I was younger.

As a student-athlete in high school, the only thing that I liked about myself was my basketball ability. My self-worth was based completely on my performance on the court. Although I knew Christ, it took a lot of painful losing and poor performances for me once I got to college to realize that my self-worth was very skewed.

After I began to read the Bible more, I realized that none of the verses showed that God loved me any less based on my performance. I did, however, find many verses based on how God viewed me as His child.

I just returned for a powerful FCA weekend retreat at the FCA National Conference Center in Marshall, Ind. God was alive and well and moved among the college students who attended. Kenn Kington did a great job of presenting the gospel and offered an invitation on Saturday night to accept the Lord for the first time. No show of hands. No "Just as I am." Just men and women making things right with their Creator during this special time. Kington encouraged all who made a decision to tell others about praying to invite Jesus into their hearts.

The next morning during our Huddle time, one of the young men shared how a teammate of his gave his life to the Lord, but he was surprised. He thought since this young man came to FCA that he was a believer.