Catcher: Use life’s gifts to glorify God’s kingdom

God has given everyone a gift. The important thing, according to former major league catcher Gary Carter, is how it is used in life.
   
“From the beginning, as a kid, I knew I was blessed with a talent, and I tried to apply that,” Carter said during a presentation March 20 at Samford University (SU).
   
Carter, who was drafted out of high school by the Montreal Expos, spoke at SU at the invitation of Omicron Pi sorority on “How to survive as a professional baseball player and a Christian.” His daughter, Christy, is a senior at SU and member of the sorority.
   
The 11-time All-Star player, who has caught more games than any catcher in National League history, was team captain of the World Series-winning New York Mets 1986 team.
   
He credits his roommate at his first professional training camp with leading him to Christ.
   
“I was 18; he was 32, near the end of his career,” Carter said. “He shared with me about life and referred me to the Scripture John 14:6 that says ‘I am the way, the truth and the life.’”
   
For Carter, who lost his mother when he was 12, there was something missing in his life.
   
“Christ was it,” he said. “I felt at peace (after making a profession of faith) and knew I was being loved,” said Carter, who broadcast games for the Expos and Florida Marlins  (1993-98) after leaving the sport because of bad knees.
   
Carter recalled the celebrated 1986 World Series, which was the subject of his first book, “A Dream Season”:
   
The Mets were down three games to two against the Boston Red Sox. An unforseen opportunity during the ninth inning of game six resulted in the Mets winning.
   
With the series tied three to three, the Mets went on to win game seven and the world championship.
   
“I remembered, as I was in that on-deck circle, how God had led me,” Carter said. “He helped me swing that bat and gave me the strength to start the rally that led us to winning the series.
   
“I felt like God was a Mets fan that year,” he said.
   
During a question and answer session, Carter commented on the highly-profiled personal struggles of fellow major leaguers such as Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden.
   
“People have asked me if I recognized their problems, but I didn’t hang with that crowd, and I didn’t know. I had no clue,” Carter said.
   
Carter played with Strawberry on the Mets team in the 1980s and again with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1991.
   
“I have prayed for him,” he said of Strawberry. “I gave him a Bible. Maybe it didn’t impact him at the time, but maybe it will in the future.
   
“When you talk about pressure, you know it happens in the game, but it depends on how you approach it,” he said.
   
“The great thing about God is that His love is a constant. Even when we backslide, His love is still there,” Carter said.
   
Carter signed baseball cards and baseballs for fans following his talk. Along with a testimony, his card cites his favorite books of the Old and New Testaments: Psalms and James.
   
Michelle McKnight of Birmingham posed her three sons with Carter for a photograph while he autographed their baseballs. “My husband is out of town, but he said we should come hear him,” said McKnight, a longtime member of McElwain Baptist Church, Birmingham.
   
She said her sons — Trent, 12; Drew, 9 and Scott, 6 — are all good athletes with a God-given gift. “They love all kinds of sports, and this was a good way for them to hear a professional ball player share his testimony,” she said. (SU)