MAN UP! with Andy Pettitte

Got to hang out at Saddleback last night and listen to an incredible live interview with Andy Pettitte (5-time World Series Champion and former pitcher for the NY Yankees). There were a ton of amazing things he talked about, but these are some of the things that stood out to me:

• "Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love." 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 (ESV)
• "The most important thing in my life isn't baseball." - Andy Pettitte
• "As a rookie, you were to be seen and not to be heard."
  • It was an intimidating crowd, salty group of guys.
• Accepted Jesus as an 11yr old
• Temptations
  • Cigarettes, alcohol, porn magazines
  • "God prepared me to be able to stand by myself if I needed to."
  • Porn magazines, etc… "if it got in front of my eyes, they weren't gonna see it again cuz it was going in the trash."
    • Fine line - you can stand your ground and be a jerk vs. stand your ground and be gracious
• They would meet before practice and have devotional time.
  • Met a lot of great guys that still help him in his walk today.
  • You were intentional about all of that. You did not wait for these great men to walk into your life. You went out and sought out these men.
• Really spent time studying God's Word
  • Be around people who will look at him, and if they see him screwing up, they will correct him and say "Hey, this is what you need to do."
  • We have a responsibility to lead our wives and lead our kids.
    • God #1, family #2, baseball #3
  • There are no secrets. You need to follow the fundamentals, the basics, of what Christ taught us.
    • Keep it simple.
  • Remember that you have a platform to reach people (your inner circle) that no one else will ever be able to reach.
• HGH scandal - when he returned to NY Yankees after going to Houston for 3 years
  • Took it to help recover from an elbow injury
  • Not illegal in baseball. Legal only if you have a prescription.
  • Why didn't it stick when people think of him?
    • Not sure.
    • A reporter asked that question and he said that he always tried to do the right thing and live by God. God took care of it.
    • "You take care of your character, and God will always take care of your reputation."
  • Thought that this was going to ruin his reputation and his story about walking with Jesus, but it turns out He gave him even more for his testimony to share.
    • "God has you where you are right now for a reason." God has us in certain places in our lives for a reason, even if we don't want to be there. Open your eyes to what is around you and find out what He wants you to do.
    • Nothing is too big for God to handle.
      • God took care of him. No one jeered him or caused him problems afterwards when he went to different stadiums.
      • No one bothered his kids in high school while all of this stuff was going on with him.
  • Though he would never recommend steroids or HGH to anyone, that experience (as much as he hated it) brought so much to his life to be able to grow in his faith.
• Even if you don't have as much success professional, personally, or spiritual, realize that God loves you, and you have your place in the world to serve Him.
• You GOTTA have your kids involved in church.
• Make sure you surround yourself with people who aren't afraid to shoot truth at you.
  • Don't surround yourself with "yes" men to feed your ego.
• What's the secret to fighting sexual temptation esp with fame and fortune and traveling around?
  • Don't go out… i.e. don't put yourself in bad situations
  • Don't turn the TV on… you don't know what kind of trash you'll find on there.
• "You can pitch a no-hitter and still lose the game. You need your team to win in baseball."

My Thoughts:

• I can't believe how incredible it was to be a part of this Man Up event. Never had I ever thought I would see so many men gathered together to worship… to sing in worship, to support each other in faith, to learn from one man's testimony, and to pray for the strength to walk together in the Lord. I sang in worship today louder than I had ever sung before. For the first time as a Christian, I reached out my hand with full faith in God to pray for someone.
  • Amen.

• I had a chance to reflect on Andy's words again this morning, and it was something I had read in PDL as well. There are people in your inner circle that you can touch that no one else will ever be able to.
  • The power in these words is amazing when you really think about it. Even though Andy has 5 world championships, no one is gonna turn to God because He gave some big speech here or there. All of the real work come from 1-on-1 conversations and from small groups. When you connect with people on a deeper level, you actually stand a chance of making real change. Celebrities don't usually inspire masses of people to change their lives. However, they can spark conversations between people, and that's where the real transformation happens.