index

It's our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

This section is new to the website and was added so that ALL would come to know the truth.

It may be lengthy, but is worth the read (and the sharing). It has been taken straight from the manuscript of The Seven Steps of Pitching. Every copy of the book includes the same information. Please pass it on. It may just save their life!

Who gives us Strength as an Athlete?

Having spent my entire life surrounded by athletes, competing as an athlete and now coaching athletes, I am absolutely positive that every athlete would want to compete at a higher level than they are competing today. In fact, I believe that all athletes would pursue almost any effort to make themselves better than the competition. This drive is what makes some athletes cross over into the unethical and illegal world of using performance-enhancing drugs. I have already discussed this issue and will not go any further in this chapter. It will be my continual hope and prayer that all who read or hear my words do not ever attempt such horrible acts. Our athletic or competitive drive causes us to want more, run faster, throw harder, win more, lose less, hit farther, know more, and to push ourselves far beyond our capabilities EVERY SINGLE DAY! In our reflection, we ask ourselves after each workout if we could have given more that day, if we could have just executed differently or if we could have endured the pain just one more second, would the goal or prize have been ours? This "What if?" game can be depressing, it can be confusing, and it can be an obstacle that is very difficult to understand.

This chapter was added to this book because of the familiar question that we all have tugging at our hearts, at our life and at our athletic life… "Is there a place that I gain more strength as an athlete?" It is a known fact that we will all reach the top of our ability someday. It is also a fact that we may wonder if we had more within ourselves to play just a year more, or maybe if we had the ability to play at the next level. Questions such as these will haunt us forever, so I felt it necessary to outline how to add to our athletic life to play as far and as hard as possible, and also to walk away from baseball, knowing that we have no regrets and put everything we had, (or were destined to have), into the game. I am here to tell you that you do not have the ability alone to reach your goals. I am here to tell you that there is a force more powerful than anything on Earth that can take you to reaching the ultimate goal. I am here to tell you that a prize WILL be yours without having to do anything physical. Just as we discussed throwing a baseball hard without a lot of effort, I want you to understand that you can have strength, peace, patience, glory, confidence, winning, and fun in the game of baseball by relying on God. By allowing Him to be a part of your baseball game, you will be tapping into a source of power that is bigger and stronger than anything we could possibly imagine. You were not created by accident; we were all created to serve a purpose. Just as I want you to have a plan on every pitch, He wants you to understand that there is a plan for you. What we choose to do with that creation, with that "Perfect Plan", He leaves for us to decide. He gave us the free will, the freedom, to decide how to put this plan into action.
.
Guys, I personally did not come to know any of this information until the very last year of my baseball career. In fact, I really did not grasp the concept until years after my playing days were over. I always had looked at the way other guys carried themselves with such peace. These guys seemed to always be in the right spot at right time. For years, I had been jealous of their attitude, jealous of their success, and jealous of their popularity. These guys seemed to be surrounded by smiles, and by success, and as hard as I worked, I just could not get to that level.

Andy's Testimony. Let me back up and give a brief background. As I have mentioned, I grew up in an incredible family, full of love, strength, integrity, athletics, and fun! I could not have imagined a better childhood than the one that Mom and Dad gave to us kids. We were one of the tightest, closest, funniest, and adventurous families I have ever heard of. We did absolutely everything together. We worked, worked out, played, studied, traveled, laughed, ate, played some more, and learned as one unit. It seems that today this type of unity is becoming more rare, which brings me much sadness. We were always taught that our success would come through our hard work. And we worked hard. We were always told that we should look around, cherish the moment, look at the faces of your teammates, and realize that your hard work will take us to a level of baseball that they would not reach. Seeing that my parents had three kids that all pitched in the Southeastern Conference with Alabama "Crimson Tide" uniforms on and then graduated from college, I would say that they were right on the mark! For me, there are three memories that are more important than any athletic accomplishment that I achieved: 1) a picture taken with my brother and sister, all of us wearing Bama sweatshirts, posing in front of the baseball stadium; 2) to stand next to my brother for the 1997 NCAA National Championship Game in Omaha; and 3) to see tears in my father's eyes when I took the field as the starting pitcher for the #1 ranked team in America, starting Game #1 for the 1996 College World Series. These moments choke me up today, and I will never forget them.

The path that we took as kids was filled with numerous workouts and every last second filled with different ways to be "bigger-faster-stronger". We worked very hard and saw the results from our hard work in everything that we did. We competed in speech contests, math contests, and science fairs. Basically anything that we did, we would try to compete at the highest level. We always did well and I know we made our parents proud. We had nice stuff, but Mom & Dad had always let us know that their ability to pay for college for us was not very possible and our sports or academics were going to make the difference. So from an early age we had our sights set on earning college scholarships. We had friends, but not like the friendship that we found within our family unit. Dad was our coach in every sport we played. He even helped with softball and cheerleading, even though he didn't know the most about it and had to learn from others on how to help my sister! I can attest to fact that there was no favoritism to the Bernard kids during team play. Everyone knew that Dad pushed us harder for a higher goal than the rest of the players and this was done strictly out of love. I cannot tell you how important this is to me now! Our Dad wanted us to enjoy the sport so much and to see us reach our full potential that his passion bled out of every part of his being. At the time, it was hard for us, and it was hard to be the son of a "passion-filled" Dad/Coach. But truthfully, I would not change a thing.

I believe that any parent that cares enough for their child to truly love them and to support them in sports, they are required as the parent to push them. As with anything, this can be abused, but in the right context, a parent should push their child to be the best at whatever they have committed to and whatever sport they wish to try. There is no sense in a child not being held accountable for the commitments they take on. Please do not misunderstand that I want parents to apply this to 5 year-old kids. Each child has an age of accountability that the parent should decide whether the child has made the decision to play that season, or the parent decided for the child to play in order to have fun and to get exercise. After that time occurs, and the child has made the conscious decision to play that year, then the parental "push" can be gradually enforced over many years to help children reach their goals. Remember parents, your heavenly gift was the opportunity to be that child's parent, and your duty is to raise your child to glorify God, partly by showing appreciation for that gift and maximizing the child's talents!

As I said, my family were the best of friends and we were good people. We were fair to others, but protected ourselves from those that wanted to impart their ways upon us. We believed in God and were raised that God is very personal to each person. We believed that no one has the right to tell another person how God should be a part of his or her lives. We stood firm that only a person's good deeds is what laid down their path to heaven. I am very grateful that my parents included God in our childhood. Like, the pitching mechanics that we were taught, I believe that this was the perfect foundation for the spiritual growth I was able learn. The belief system that was instilled in us taught me to remember that God gave each one of us certain gifts it was up to me to maximize those gifts. Mom also shared with me that those gifts were in my arm and in my pitching and that I should protect those gifts if I planned to pitch at a high level of baseball. I believe that this teaching planted the seeds that were not to grow until much later in my life. Many kids today will never hear the things that I heard when I was growing up. I love and appreciate my parents for their teaching, guidance and sharing. I think they did a great job!

All of us kids grew up to be good students. We always got straight "A's" on our report cards. But as I grew older, I had some serious spiritual questions tugging at my heart. I was the type of kid that could take anything apart and most likely put it back together again. I loved to see how things worked. The world and people were no different. I was so scientific, that I could not trust that the world was merely thrown together quickly and it all happened because of a single being's whim. I would rationalize events of history, especially Biblical events, into a scientific cause, a coincidence if you will. I thought that the people who saw it happen could not explain the events and in their inadequacy, wrote the entire event off to God doing it. For example, I believed that the Hebrew slaves did escape Egypt, and did escape across the Red Sea. I accepted this by rationalizing a scientific coincidence that perhaps a strong wind must have been blowing out to sea at the same time as low tide and the Hebrews ran across at that time. I believed that Moses himself must have had the motivational skills to coax them across and then run across himself. At a later time, the Egyptians came chasing after them and the wind storm had ended, the tide was coming back in and the soldiers sank in the mud and were drowned by the Red Sea. Basically, I thought that the events of the Bible were recorded by those that were too weak-minded to believe that they could handle the world on their own. They were too weak-minded to just accept existence and anything that they could not explain, they just chalked it up to a higher being, God. This applied to my daily life in that I was so prideful that I thought that I could handle any situation because God gave me strength to do it. It was sort of a "Survival of the Fittest" thinking of how to handle life. If God didn't give me a strong arm to throw with, then I wasn't meant to pitch. If God didn't make me a tough person, then I was going to fail in life situations. So I kept to my guns, meaning that I didn't let God into my life, I didn't feel the need to learn any more because I already had the answers. I thought that no one else would have a better explanation of the world because I had the information needed to get me by. I was pretty cocky and conceited about God, I refused to go to any Christian events or discuss any spiritual issues with friends or teammates. I was invited often, but I never went. I could kick myself now for that action, but it all happened for a reason, and I believe that this is God's plan for my life.

When I moved from California to Alabama, I was looking forward to the change in culture that was to come. My recruiting trip was incredible…these people were so nice. They seemed to care about everyone and waited on every need. California is a beautiful looking state, I enjoyed my childhood there and I know that God placed my family there for a reason, but I was excited to attend college in a lot less stressful society where the pace was slower and the people seemed to like what they did everyday.

In the first week that I was there, I met these girls from Mobile, Alabama that rented an apartment in my building. They were very pretty and all of them had been best friends for their whole life. They were "Southern Belles" and that was another reason I moved to the South. They had another friend moving up before the semester started and her name was Kristin Farnell. I remember the day she moved in, I had said hello to her coming up the stairs, surprising her because she didn't know who I was. Later that day we were introduced and I soon became a casual friend to all the girls in the group. As I would love to hear them all talk, they would make fun of my accent and told me that I pronounce all of my syllables. (Imagine being made fun of for pronouncing words correctly.) Man, I loved this place! Well, these girls were not afraid to ask spiritual questions and my pride and cockiness was bold enough to share my stance and my resistance to others sharing anything that had to do with God. At the time, I thought that these girls found my resistance as a challenge to them and they asked even more questions. They accepted me for whom I was, we all had fun talking and I know now that all of the discussions were the watering of the seeds planted long ago by my parents.

From the first day I met Kristin, I wanted to have her as my girlfriend. She seemed so much like me and we related very well together. She was beautiful, smart, very funny, challenging, and had the most beautiful accent I had ever heard. She was the perfect woman for me and I had to have her! We spent every moment together and built a great friendship. By the winter of that year, I had earned a place on the pitching staff of the baseball team, finished one round of engineering classes and had Kristin as my girlfriend. She had the kindest, most pure heart I have ever encountered. I felt like such dirt when speaking about my past, even though she never judged me or the bad decisions I had made. She flew to California to meet my parents at Christmas time and I got a gigantic seal of approval from them. My mother asked if I felt that this one was the "keeper". I told her that I thought so, as my Mom knew that the girlfriends of the past were not "perfect" for me. If anyone knows who is best for their son, it is their moms! The spring came; Kristin came to every Bama baseball game and even to the 1996 College World Series. After that, she came to California for the summer. We were in love and what happens to boy when he has money from a summer job, in love with a girl and the possibility that this one would say "Yes" if I asked. I took her camping and proposed to her and she didn't let me down, she said "Yes" through the tears. She and her family had labeled me her "Prince Charming" and we were going to be married the next year.

Soon after our engagement, she told me that she was not going to marry a man that was not a Christian and that she would not let a Non-Christian man raise her family. This hit me like a ton of bricks. Her best friend's father, Mr. Keith Curlee, was going to perform the marriage ceremony. During the marriage counseling in the fall of 1996, we met several times to discuss marital matters, such as money, children, love, and spirituality. Most of the time it was Mr. Curlee, his daughter, Olivia, Kristin, and myself that met. I tried to stick to my pride, and also try to learn enough to make Kristin happy. You see, in my mind I was already a "Christian". God was different for all of us, right? Well one of those sessions Mr. Curlee started to discuss sin, forgiveness, and the Holy Spirit. I knew what sin was, and I was a good person. I knew what forgiveness was, but I was an "Old Testament" guy who treated others with an attitude of "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth". If someone was going to get the best of me, I was going to get the best of them, maybe 10-times worse. And the Holy Spirit…I thought that was just an imaginary being that people thought was a neat way to explain unexplainable events. I was so "black & white" about everything. I didn't need any teaching, I didn't need any counseling on this…I believed in God and that is enough for anyone. They told me that there was this emptiness that we all feel and why God would fill it. (I didn't have emptiness, what are they talking about?) They told me that a Christian should accept everything with a child-like faith. Child-like faith?…God made me smart enough to see through that; smart enough to try to explain the unexplainable with scientific events. Mr. Curlee had researched and gave to me a list of Bible verses that were about "Pride". The verses discussed how God hates pride, how pride defies God, and how pride stands in the way of all those who want to learn more. Pride really was the reason that I could not accept anything else. Pride really was the reason that I had to explain everything. Pride in myself, pride in my life, and pride in my own learning was a brick wall, preventing me from learning anything else.

Then they started talking about how the Holy Spirit lives within them and how it carries them through the struggles of life. Still holding onto my pride, (how could Andy be wrong?), I looked at them in total disbelief. They asked me if I ever felt an internal "hug" that just seemed to fill me up? I said, "sometimes, but isn't that just confidence in what you are doing?" Then the girls started crying. I mean crying and crying hard, but with smiles on their faces. I looked in disbelief, but these girls asked me if I feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in the room right then? I did feel something; in fact it was pretty weird. I thought I was just being compassionate about their crying, but I really did feel that I was getting a hug or being filled up inside. Mr. Curlee started crying and I was about to myself. At that moment, I felt as if someone or something had lifted the shield from my heart, something had removed the scales from my eyes, and everything that we had been talking about for weeks started to make sense. They told me that they could literally feel the Holy Spirit in their daily lives, giving them the ultimate peace about situations and that if they ever needed to feel that peace they just asked for it. They trusted that it would always be there and they loved the feeling that it brought. I was feeling that sense of peace right then and it was nice. I started to wonder if I was wrong to believe that everything in my life was my own doing. I started to wonder if this God, this Holy Spirit was really carrying me through my days. I knew that I was just a speck of dust in comparison to time and to God. Could it be possible that He wants to live in my daily actions as well? Could it be true that He wants me to live for Him? Does He want me include Him in all that I do? I started to really question my pride, my knowledge and my actions.

I wanted to know more and the three of them shared with me that my acceptance of Jesus Christ into my life was the next step. I knew who he was but didn't know how He fit into this puzzle… into this feeling. We all read the Gospel of John, Chapter 3. They shared with me that the opening of my eyes and heart was the first step to becoming a true Christian. I had to first deny my pride, my superiority to life and accept that I fall short of the Glory of God. I had to accept that there has only been one perfectly sinless person on this planet and the rest of us do sinful or bad things. I don't mean just murder or harsh crimes; I mean I had to accept that I fail at being perfect. I agreed with them, I did and do make decisions that are less than the right way to handle the situation. I cut people off in traffic, I use foul language, and I am not always as nice as I could be. OK, I accept that, I still believe that I am a "good" person, but I am not God…I am not perfect. The next step was for me to pray. Prayer, I am afraid of prayer. Prayer means that I have to humble myself before someone else. God made me strong; God made me smart; why should I have to pray about this? "Does he want to rub all of this in my face?" "No", they said. You need to formally ask Jesus Christ to forgive Andy of ALL the bad things that I did. I have to completely trust that God sacrificed his only son to come to Earth, in the flesh, live among men, and then die on the cross for our sins, so that I could live in heaven forever and live on Earth with God, Jesus Christ, and The Holy Spirit in my life. I had to formally renounce my superiority to life, and ask Jesus Christ to forgive me, personally, and invite Jesus into my heart and into my life. They told me to not do any of this then; but for me to read the Bible, and carefully consider all that I felt and all that my heart questioned. Mr. Curlee said that when I felt ready to pray, that I should do this alone. I should not do this to please anyone else but do this for my benefit and I should only ask Christ into my heart when I was willing to open the door to Him. This concept worked for me…I am a self-starting person, full of discipline and I worked week after week with pushing myself to work hard when no one was around.

That night, in bed I closed my eyes and prayed, for real, for the first time and most important prayer of my life. I was scared, I was excited, I was a little disbelieving, but I pressed on. That day was way too different for me to accept coincidence. I had been spiritually moved and I was not going to deny what I saw in my friends. I thanked God for the gifts that He had given me. I thanked Him for my life. I asked for forgiveness for what I had done, specifically all of the sins that I had committed. I asked Jesus Christ to come into my heart and into my life. I asked Jesus to make changes in my life that would please Him…I don't remember being awake after that, I think I fell asleep soon after.

The next day turned out to be one of the most incredible days I had ever had. I don't remember any specific events, not in school or in baseball. Not any events that really stick out in my memory. But what I remember is that my feet never really felt like they ever touched the ground! I was filled with the most incredible peace and it is hard for to explain where it came from. During the day I felt like I had a hug or a thick coat on that wrapped me in love. Everything did seem to go my way that day, but not in the way that it had before. I felt very relieved of all that hung on my heart in my past and all the worries of the future were gone! I was taller, I was stronger, I could see more clearly. I knew the girls were right; there is a spirit that can fill your every being and make all situations become easier. It seemed that all the sharp edges of life were gone.

In the next several years, I learned a lot more about what being a true Christian is. I am still very far from the goal, as the world throws up many obstacles and worldly pressures that will always stand in the way of someone who knows the truth. Man will always stumble; I will always fall short of the Glory of God and I will sin. Now that I know what my weaknesses are, I can deal with them individually. I equate this directly with my pitching mechanics. When you know what your mechanical flaws are, you can work on them directly. The difference between my learning pitching mechanics and my learning to be a Christian is that I now have the power of God behind me now and I can ask for help in every action I take. Since the fall of 1996, I have steadily felt more peaceful about life. I am able to accept things differently. I don't get so worked up about things of little eternal importance. Kristin and I believe that God has a plan for us and if we invite Him to be a part of our family, then all will be right with the world. We have been very blessed and love to share the daily blessing with each other every day. We have abandoned a lot of the extra material things that we dreamed about when we were young; we have removed these things from the list of needs and placed them on the list of desires. We have had a wonderful time growing together in the Lord and love to teach our kids the ways of God. I have been a sponge recently, soaking up Scripture and putting it directly in my life without question. I know that those around me are looking at me a little differently and maybe wondering if I am right with the world. In fact, I am better with the world now that I have more peace about life. I don't feel the pressure that I felt before, no road rage, less financial pressure, and less stress about work. I am busier than I have ever been. We are able to pray to God and ask Him to slow down time to allow us to get the things done that He feels are priorities for our lives. This action removes so much of the stress and also allows us to get it all done somehow. Lastly, I would like to say that since Kristin and I have been married, we have always had more expenses than income. Faithfulness to God is what makes it all possible. We trust that God will provide for us and that we will make it.

In junior college my coach, John Moncier, first asked me to start helping Little League pitchers in the bullpen during our practices, I thought that it was merely to help spread the "word" about good mechanics. It was fun for me, the kids, and for the Little League coaches to learn the "Four Steps" of pitching. At the time, I thought that I was just helping out kids and dads who wanted to learn a better way to pitch. I had no idea what an impact these lessons would have on my life. When I moved to Alabama, I continued the pitching lessons, but for the most part the kids were not as hungry for the lessons as I wanted them to be. It seemed that a lot of parents just wanted to pay for their kids to "hang-out" with a Bama Baseball player. This is not why I was doing the lessons! First, I only accepted donations for the lessons, so there really was not an amount that I could tell these people to donate for "hang-out" time. Second, I wanted to work with pitchers that cared to improve. I worked with people for them to improve. I wanted kids that want to learn the game, learn the pitcher's mechanics and wanted to attain the goals that they set for themselves. When we moved to Jacksonville, Florida, I built a bullpen in our backyard out of Alabama Red Clay. They call Alabama "God's Country", so I felt it necessary to have a little bit of "God's Country" in our backyard. Upon getting to know some of the local leagues and their coaches, the lessons exploded. I went from conducting one lesson per week to conducting 15-20 lessons per week. There will never be a need to advertise, as the love for pitching of these boys keeps our schedule full and we love to have these families at our house. Our own kids have over 150 older brothers and they love the lessons as well. Soon I learned that these lessons had become a ministry. I didn't set out to create a ministry, it just sort of happened. I guess that God grew me spiritually in order to guide and teach these boys how to maximize the gifts that God gave them. When I started to realize that this was taking place, my spiritual life grew equally and I learned to love the peace and the teaching that God was giving me in order to teach so many different personalities. I learned to remember names quickly, a problem I have always had to overcome. He gave me the ability to speak to different kids on the level that they were able to listen. I found that the ability to become a friend-like coach allowed these kids to grow very rapidly. I love to hear the compliments of how these boys are reaping the success of their hard work and I never believe that I am the reason. These boys work very hard and they are starting to see how working hard on the fundamentals away from the game allows you to perform in the game at a whole new level. Therefore this book is my way to reach more kids, reach more coaches, or reach more parents with a message of pitching mechanics and message of God's desire to be in our daily baseball lives.

Spiritual growth of athletes. What you just heard was the timeline of how Andy Bernard came from childhood to where we are right now. I appreciate your patience and I will pray for each of you that you will grow to glorify God's Plan for your life and your life through baseball. I'm willing to bet that you will enjoy what He has in store for you! So where do we go from here? I want to outline some areas that will help those that do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I want those to know why they should have one and how to start one, while next providing Christian athletes with a basis for daily work and deeper spiritual goals. The areas of discussion include: discipline, knowledge, pride, strength & confidence, peace, prayer, goals, plan & purpose, talents, and glory. Just like the pitching mechanics, (and all of the work that you put in towards your baseball career), your spiritual growth can improve your life in all aspects. Just as you had an open mind about pitching mechanics, have an open mind to allow God to do great things through and with you!

If you do not know God or you wonder how to know God better, please understand that you are exactly like every other guy on the planet. We all started life without knowing God personally. We also did not know how to throw a pitch, hit a baseball or even walk. In fact it takes many years to develop abilities to perform any action. A relationship with God takes the same willingness to learn. You should know that God is poised and ready to fulfill the other side of this friendship and relationship. To become a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ, is very simple and He will help you through this. First of all, you need to accept that you are a sinner. At first, this seems so superficial and a little unnecessary. Accepting this fact is much deeper than it sounds and in my words, it means that you accept that God is perfect and that you are less than perfect. No matter how good of a person we think we are, we still make mistakes, we still have bad thoughts about people or events, or we still use foul language or do things that you know that are not right. Secondly, you need to understand and believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and was a man, in the flesh, just as you and I. Jesus lived a perfect life without sin and was killed by the cross in order to wipe the slate clean for all of us. Upon His death He was raised from the dead in order create a path for all of us to follow into heaven. Without your acceptance and belief that Jesus was raised from the dead, your slate cannot be wiped clean of all of the things you did in your past and those that are to happen in the future, because you will not have been lifted out of the life that you currently live. Upon this acceptance, your day-to-day life will become more apparent to you and you will learn how to evaluate situations from a different point of view. Thirdly, you need to ask Jesus Christ to come into your life, into your heart and ask Him to have a personal relationship with you. God and Jesus both want you to ask for this. I would equate this to you having to ask someone to tell you that they love you. If you have to ask, then what are the words really worth?

I would suggest that you read the Bible, the Gospel in the Book of John in order to get more information about the Three Steps that I just shared. Upon your reading, reflect on how this could affect your life and then seriously pray the statements that I underlined and those feelings that are on your heart. At first, praying can be scary, it was especially for me. Talk to God as if you were talking to a friend, because that is what He is to us. Praying does not need to be in a quiet ritualistic location. Praying all day long can keep you living in peace and allowing Jesus to handle your issues with you.

Be patient, open your heart, let go of your pride, listen to how God can talk to you and be a part of your life. It will change, and He promises to do it!

For you guys who have already accepted all that I have just stated, I wanted to give you a few references to consider in your spiritual growth as you play sports. I believe that in order to grow spiritually, you need to memorize God's Word and Scripture. The following section helps give you a few Scripture versus for the qualities and areas of your life that you are working on.

Remember that your spiritual growth needs as much attention and "practice time" as your baseball. It seems like a lot to do all in one day, doesn't it? Sometimes, when I get so busy that I don't see it all getting done, I pray for God to slow down time in order for me to finish all tasks that He wants me to. My wife often asks God to reprioritize her day in order to only get done what is God's will for her to finish. When you ask for God to intercede and assist with your daily struggle and daily tasks, somehow it all gets done and you live with an inner-peace that you know it will all get done and it will all work out in the end. It sure doesn't feel that way when you start getting backed up on deadlines or try to cram your activities into one single day. Try it, I bet you'll be amazed!

Discipline. Very early in this book we discussed how you approach discipline for your life, your workouts, and for your pitching. Being a Christian Athlete is no different. Discipline is not something that you merely say, "I know I can do that, but I don't feel like doing it right now!" Spiritual discipline is probably the hardest aspect of being a Christian. So, as much as you desire to become a Major League Pitcher, desire to be a disciplined Christian. This means that you will have play humble, play intense, play hard and most importantly, stay focused! When you allow your thoughts to get outside The Walls, do you have success? Spiritual Discipline is another set of "Walls" that you set for yourself. A perfect verse for this is from 1 Thessalonians 4:4, "that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable." And also from Proverbs 15:32 where the Bible tells us, "He who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever heeds correction gains understanding." Both of these verses describe the standard that you set for yourself that gives you a different view of how to act everyday and on the field.

Knowledge. Besides studying in school and studying the Bible to know God, I think that athletes that watch their tongue and are classy about how they speak to people show their knowledge at any first impression. This world is full of individuals who swear, cuss, and use very foul language. How many times do you see on TV, athletes that swear after failing at the game they play? Young athletes see how these "stars" carry themselves in this way. This action is absolutely disgusting to me. I used to use foul language myself, and it took years to get to where I am sickened to even here a single "swear-word". The Biblical mandate for me is found in Ephesians 4:29, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." WOW, this is a tough mandate to follow. We are told to only say things that build up others according to what THEY need. This means that you will not swear, trash-talk, degrade, or belittle others. I have always been very sarcastic in the things that I say. With this verse on the tip of my brain each day, it is hard to practice. A lot of discipline has gone in to making this a part of my life and I fail continually. I find that it is not hard to practice when things are going well, but extremely hard to follow when all is going wrong and I am fired up or angry. It seems that my discipline goes out the window and I don't seem to care about the standard I am trying to set. Sound familiar?

I feel that an athlete that is classy, smart, clean-mouthed, and clean-cut is held as a more knowledgeable person. As an athlete, you guys are some of the biggest role models to the world around you. Do not forget that many kids cannot do what you are doing today. Take advantage of the spotlight on your life. Show others how a Christian Athlete should act!

In 2 Timothy 2:5, Paul tells us, "…if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor's crown unless he competes according to the rules." I feel that being knowledgeable and respectful of the rules and standards set for your life is an important guideline to remember. How many athletes stumble from trying to get the edge on their competition, but fail to do it fairly? I think that this greed for the prize is also part of recognizing God's Perfect Plan for your life, being patient about living on God's timetable and faithful that He will come through for you.

Pride. Having too much pride was my greatest downfall as a person before coming to know the Lord. Guys, there was not a more cocky baseball player in my hometown than Andy Bernard. I was it! I was the new definition of pitching a baseball. I was also so prideful in my own life that I thought that I could do no wrong and that I could solve any issue on my own. I look back now and see how very wrong I was. It was the deep discussions of pride, what it is, how it works, how it causes failure that broke down the walls of resistance against God in my life. Mr. Keith Curlee, (the man who married my wife and me), wrote down several of the following scripture versus and we discussed these in detail and then he left them with me to think about.

" Proverbs 16:5, "The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished."
" 1 Corinthians 13:4, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud."
" Proverbs 8:13, "To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech."
" Proverbs 16:18, "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall."
" Daniel 4:37, "Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble."
" Romans 12:16, "Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited."

To have pride in what you do is important and needed, especially in sports. But to feel that you are the next person to redefine baseball is wrong. We are only human; we are only here for a short period of time. Jesus asked us in Matthew 6:27, "Who by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" I ask myself a simple question each time I find myself being extremely prideful, "if I am so powerful, then how come I have to sleep each night, eat each day and put my clothes on just like my competition?" If I were really this stud that I think I am, then why do I get sleepy. God wants us to realize our place, our role in this relationship. I equate this to being a middle-relief pitcher; there is very little glory, very few games are decided by this guy and you don't even know if you will pitch today! You still have to be prepared, be ready to pitch and do your best when you get in there. You have to be humble enough to realize that your day may include 100 pitches or may just include a couple pitches. If you get prideful and disgusted with your position, you may not get the results you were looking for.

Play humbly guys, work humbly and win with a humble heart. Being humble will lift you higher rather than if you stand on your own toes!

Strength & Confidence. Our church hosted a guest speaker, Mr. Richard Foster, a world-renowned author and speaker. Mr. Foster was introduced as the mentor of our pastor's life. What Mr. Foster spoke about to us that Sunday was "strength and confidence". I feel that strength and confidence are qualities that every athlete desires to have more of. His discussion is directly related to athletes and I was excited to hear his message and thought you would benefit as well.

Mr. Foster said that when the great missionary Paul wrote to the Corinthians he said to always be confident. When you are not confident in what you do as an athlete, you will fail. Think about facing a batter and not being confident in your pitches. Will you get this guy out? Maybe. Will you always be able to get people out when you don't feel good about yourself?

Mr. Foster then discussed verses 18-22, from 1 John, chapter 3. He told us that there are three areas that we must not condemn in our lives. First, you must not condemn your own heart because you are different. Here he discussed that we should not feel condemned on the inside because we are different. We may appear a little different, but were we not ALL created in the image and likeness of God? Whatever your physical abilities or limitations, do not get down on yourself. You were given certain capabilities for a reason and the reason for your uniqueness will be revealed in God's time.

Second, do not condemn where you are…not your location, your stature, and your experiences. We should always look at the encounters we are faced with and know that they are part of God's Plan and we should have faith that God will carry us through them. Did you not get that letter that you wanted from your favorite college? Are you going to dwell on that fact and quit baseball? What about your coach's selection for the starting pitcher today? Are you going to condemn yourself and feel bad about what has happened to you or are you going to learn from this and be at your best when you are called on to pitch? The choice is yours.

Thirdly, he told us that we should not condemn ourselves based upon the results of our actions. If this statement does not apply to athletes, and especially pitchers, then I do not know what does apply. We get so caught up in our own results that we start to condemn ourselves before we ever attempt the next pitch. We talked about this idea with the concept of pitching each game "Pitch by Pitch" or "One Pitch at a Time". He told us that we should not condemn ourselves based upon our failures, our decisions, and our actions. This idea is so important to remember every day that we step on that field. The opportunity to just get to step onto the field should be enough, but again, hold your head high and be confident in what you do and how you respond to the results of each pitch and each game.

Most importantly, Mr. Foster told us that if we do condemn ourselves, we should remember that God is greater than our heart, and He knows us better than we know our own heart. Therefore, we should have faith that God would not place any obstacle in our path that He did not think we could handle and handle with Him! Be careful to never put limits on God's capabilities. Mr. Foster ended the sermon with the statement that we should, "Let God bless you where you are now!"

In my own research I found the following Scripture on the subject:
" Hebrews 10:35, "So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded."
" 1 Corinthians 16:13, "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong."
" Deuteronomy 31:6, "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."
" Isaiah 41:10, "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
" 1 Corinthians 1:25, "For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength."

Peace. One of the greatest aspects of the Christian Athletes that I was envious of was their sense of peace about everything that they did. They seemed so focused on what they were doing, but at the same time, did not fill their lives with worrying about the things that they could not control. In Ephesians chapter 4, verse 22, Paul tells us, "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds." If you apply this to your life with the premise that we are all on this planet for such a short time that you do not need to worry about the things that you cannot effect? We do not pitch any differently knowing that our shortstop may not field the groundball. Therefore, we should not get worked up about those things that are in the hands of God to control. Live everyday thinking about how God's will for your life will help you. Secondly, live everyday wondering how you can help God by being a part of His will in the life of others. Living in peace does not mean that you are any less of a competitor on the field or that you are any less aggressive. God wants you to play at your best and He wants you to compete and to win. Working hard and playing to glorify God's name in all that you do will bring peace to your life.

Prayer. As I mentioned earlier, I was terrified to pray. As a kid, I only prayed when there was an event that was critical such as a surgery or death in the family. Even when we visited church, I did not know how to pray and even wondered why God would listen to me. God wants us to have a conversation with Him in everything that we do. My wife Kristin is great at this. She seems to be able to just open a conversation and speak to God in everything that she does. For me, it is something that I am trying to learn, but when I forget to do this and I allow extra thoughts or negative thoughts to fill my head during hard times, my life seems a bit more difficult.

For some of you, you may only pray when you are in need. Remember, "…there are no atheists in foxholes." For others of you, you may pray a little more, but know that you should include God in more of your day. That description is Andy. And still others of you are able to have God shoulder-to-shoulder with you all day and be able to include Him in your day as if He were helping you with that insignificant task. The analogy that I like to use in describing the last group of people is that you guys seem to have God on "speakerphone". When talking on a speakerphone, you are having a casual conversation with that person, even though you cannot see them. Wouldn't the rest of us like to be able to have God on speakerphone? Prayer does not always need to sound like a blessing said before you eat a meal. It does not always have to sound like a dissertation that a priest or pastor would say in church. Prayer can and should be those things, but it should also be casual for the rest of the day so that you are in a never-ending conversation with our friend and Father.

Most importantly prayer takes practice and focus. How many times have you started praying and then realized that your mind has drifted into another subject completely separate from your conversation with God? How many times have you started to think about things you must get done today while someone else is praying for the group? Both of these happen to me all the time. As I have asked others if this happens to them too, they agree that they are guilty also. The only way I know how to describe this is to reflect upon The Walls that we created in our pitching mechanics. When you are in the Walls, you are focused and you separate yourself in order to concentrate on the task at hand. When I start to drift in my mind during the prayer, I now visualize my prayer subject and try to concentrate on a single subject at a time. When someone else is praying for the group, concentrate on one statement at a time. I have heard that it is the Evil One that would try to get you to lose focus on your prayer or prayer-life. I equate this to an opposing dugout or opposing fans that want you to lose focus on your pitching. Be careful to not let this happen. God knows your heart, and He enjoys hearing your focused agreements to a leader's prayer. Try to focus, I bet you'll get some better results.

Goals. Knowing that God wants us to reach the goals He has set for us and live out the plan He has for our lives should make each one of us work twice as hard to reach the mark. We are not athletes on an island by ourselves, but on a team with Christ searching for victory and reward. "With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies," Psalms 60:12.

When Paul was satisfied that he had lived a complete life and had glorified God in his own life, commented to his student Timothy, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith," 2 Timothy 4:7.

Part of reaching your goals means playing for coaches that ask you to play outside of your comfort level or comfort zone. Your coach's responsibilities include doing this even though it is not very fun for you and at the time, you may think that your coach is completely nuts! When this happens to you, remember this easy verse, "Do everything without complaining or arguing," Philippians 2:14. A simple "Yes Sir" should leave your lips and then go after the task as if the game were on the line!

Plan & Purpose. Trying to grasp and understand God's plan for you is very difficult and it will happen to all people at different times of their life. In the book of Colossians, chapter 3, verse 23, we are told, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men." I have leaned on this thought as I have entered work each day since I stopped playing baseball. Since baseball and pitching is my passion, I have a hard time focusing on work when I really just want to be on a baseball field each day or on the mound each night. But you guys who are still there can remember this and see this purpose that God has set for each of us.

Even though your life will unfold over time and the level of baseball that you will make it to is still unknown, understand that you are not alone. We have all had uncertainty about the future. "…as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him," 1 Corinthians 2:9.

The off-season is one of the most difficult times to prepare for baseball. When you are alone in your hometown or not in the excitement of the baseball season, it is easy to slack off and not to push yourself with discipline. 2 Timothy 4:2 tells us, "… be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction." Take each off-season practice as if it were your game day. Be serious about how you can make your self better. And also in 1 Timothy 4:8, "For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come." Remember the analogy of the using your hand to focus on a goal: Hold you hand up with your arm extended out. Now focus on your fingers. Keep your fingers in focus but see the world behind your fingers and how they are out of focus. The world is still there, but your immediate goals are what you are working on that day. If you only focus upon the long-term goals, you will not be walking on the path to get there. Additionally, if you only work for today and your current level of baseball, you may not get the opportunity to achieve your long-term goals. Athletic spirituality is no different. Set short and long term goals, just as you have set athletic goals.

By creating and achieving your goals, you remove any extra parts of your life that may keep you from getting where you want to go. "Therefore,…, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." Hebrews 12:1 In the book Beneath the Surface, by Bob Reccord and John Maxwell, the authors said to eliminate any entry-level sin that can enter your life. I would be willing to guess that you will not commit murder or rob a bank. I want to know that you would respect women and keep abstinent until marriage. But how many small things that we do that we know are not right? If you ask me, I do lots of these little bad things!!! Having the discipline to remove entry-level sin from your life makes your life full of peace and you feel closer to God than you could ever imagine. So remove that second glance at that girl in the tight clothes or short skirt. Remove that bad word or nasty comment that has become habit. Drive your car without trying to win the Talladega 500! When you find that money on the ground or see someone drop something, do not hesitate to stop them and give it back. These entry-level sins can add up and make your spiritual walk pretty muddy.

Glory. Glory is a word that has many meanings to an athlete. It has many more meanings to the Christian athlete. To the Non-Christian athlete, it describes the feeling that you get when you are winning or trying to win the game. It is the attention that you play for; the recognition that you or your team receives when you succeed. To the Christian athlete glory is the respect and enjoyment that you give God by Him watching you play. It is the smile that you can see Him have when you lift all your success up to Him. He asked us to do this in Psalms 60:12, "With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies." I don't expect to see the other team to just fall out of the way and let us win because God is wearing a Crimson Jersey that day. No, not ever. But to first give God the glory.

Give God your best every day of your life. Follow the request that he has set for us in Philippians 3:14, "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." And 1 Corinthians 9:25, "Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever." As I have said numerous times, our baseball life and our life on earth is so very short. We know that God has created each of us and that He wants to have a personal relationship with each of us. If our reward is not on earth, but in heaven, then it seems logical to work hard and play baseball with the ultimate Christian goal in mind: to live eternally in heaven with Jesus. We are saved by His grace, therefore our respect and appreciation can be shown in every victory and every success you are given until that great day!

My favorite example of giving Glory to God for the success that you receive as an athlete is when Kurt Warner, Quarterback of the 1999 Superbowl Champion St. Louis Rams made his first media statement following the winning of the Superbowl and Superbowl MVP honors on the field. The first this that Mr. Warner said was that he gives all the glory to God for this win, this team and for this season. Out of all the things that he could have said, Mr. Warner knew that he had the attention of the world and he decided to let everyone know that he played for the glory of God and was giving thanks to Him for all that he had and all that He had given Kurt! My wife and I were very touched by this display of appreciation and witnessing to the world of who is first in the life of this athlete who was at the top of his game. There is not a higher spot to be than to be the MVP, Superbowl-winning Quarterback and Mr. Warner chose to not take any credit for the reward, but to show the world who he played for. That's awesome! Will we do the same when we get to that point?

Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Players, this is a national organization that has created a place for athletes to come to know our Lord Jesus Christ and for those that already know Him to grow closer to Him. I passed up every invitation to be a part of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Organization when I was in high school and junior college. At Alabama, I started attending and I am still regretting not accepting all of those previous invitations. Guys, associate yourself with Christian Athletes and attend the functions and meetings in your town as well as the yearly camps that the Organization holds. I have never heard anything but positive stories of how Christian Athletes have been deeply moved by the functions and meetings. I suggest that you find your local group and get involved. The friendships that you make and the growth that you will find in the Lord will change your life!

Coaches Honor. Coaches Honor is a local organization here in Jacksonville, Florida that leads weekly bible studies for the coaches at local schools. I was introduced to the organization's founder and leader, Wink Cherry, and saw instantly why this organization is successful. Wink is a very driven and humble individual that has placed God first in his life, (and that of his family), in order to help lead local coaches to be Christian Role Models to the local athletes. One premise of the organization is that coaches spend more time with the athletes than any other individual. Therefore, by the building up and spiritual growth of coaches, their presence and guidance to our children and athletes, we help the Christian walk of those younger people in our world. Many more people can come to know the Lord through this organization and the hard work of its members. I personally think that this organization is awesome and provides a spiritual rooting for the local coaches. My wife and I have been deeply moved after every event we have attended. We love to see the passion of these coaches, both for their players and for Christ. It is amazing. Even if you are out of the Jacksonville, FL area and do not have the ability to align yourself with Coaches Honor, the concept is for you and your fellow coaches to become rooted in the Word and to share the Word with your athletes. The experience that you will have will make your passion for coaching much more enjoyable and rewarding.

Both of those organizations are happy to send information regarding how they work and schedules of events. I also believe that they can be found on the Internet if you wish to get in touch with them.

In Closing. Guys, I have truly enjoyed writing this chapter and have found a passion in my faith by researching and sharing with you specific Scripture that I feel can help your Spiritual walk with Jesus Christ. It fills my heart with happiness to know that you may grow closer to God because of your discipline and hard work both on the field and in the Bible. As I wrote this chapter, I reflected heavily on how I wished that I had known any of these verses and had the spiritual maturity that the guys on my teams had. I have such a long way to grow and the love for Christ that I have has grown because of the opportunity to share this part of my life with you. Whenever you start your day, do not forget to thank God for the opportunity to play this game. Do not forget to thank Him for the abilities that you have and the people that you can reach by having those talents and gifts! God has created YOU for a purpose. He has made you different than all the others for a reason. Jesus Christ came to earth to show us the path to live eternally with Him. Please do not forget to thank Him in prayer with the other team after the game. Really, the other team is not the other team; they are on the same team…Christian athletes.

I pray that you may stay as focused on your spiritual discipline and you are focused on your pitching. I pray that the distractions of this world do not poison your love for Christ and love for the game of baseball. "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong." 1 Corinthians 16:13. I pray that you glorify God in all that you do. I pray that you play for a coach that lifts up Jesus Christ as the true leader of the team. I pray that reach every goal you set, every goal that is set for you, and that you are surprised by the fun that baseball will bring to your live. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." Mark 12:30. Play Ball in Christ and then Play Ball!

Back to top.

Contact Coach Andy Bernard

or visit