The Ultimate Prize

by Andy Pettitte and Bob Reccord with Mark Tabb

“I might as well be straight with you. This whole question of purity isn’t about how true love waits until you are married to have sex. You can do that and still miss the point. Purity begins with a commitment to live in a way that honors Jesus Christ, a commitment that spreads over every part of your life,” says major league baseball player, Andy Pettitte in his new book, StrikeZone. If you have questions about purity or ever struggle with sexual temptation, keep reading.

In 1998 I had the privilege of being a part of what some people call the greatest team in baseball history. Our New York Yankees team won what was then an American League record: 114 games. Going into the postseason we knew none of that would matter if we didn’t win the World Series. And winning the series was our only goal. When you play for the Yankees, any year you don’t win the World Series is a failure, regardless of the regular season. Our journey toward the World Series started with a sweep of the Texas Rangers in the American League Division Series. We blew through the series, giving up a grand total of one run in the three games combined. Cleveland gave us a harder time in the American League Championship Series, but we still won in six games. This set up a showdown with the National League Champion San Diego Padres in the World Series. We played the first two games in Yankee Stadium. David Wells was the starting and winning pitcher for Game 1. On days I don’t start I sit with the rest of the team in the dugout. But not during the ’98 series. I caught an emergency flight back home to Houston when my mom called me after Game 1 and told me my dad needed open-heart surgery. Suddenly baseball and the World Series didn’t matter. My only concern was my father.

I stayed with my dad as long as I could, but I had to return to the team to pitch Game 4. My father was sick, but I still had to do my job. The Yankees won the first three games and needed only one more victory to clinch our second World Championship in three years. After flying from Houston to San Diego I tried to go through all my normal routine before a start. But, to be honest, I really wasn’t thinking about baseball. All I could think about was my dad. As I walked out onto the pitcher’s mound I dedicated the game to him. I don’t know how I did it, but I didn’t give up a single run through seven innings. Our manager, Joe Torre, brought in relievers Jeff Nelson and Mariano Rivera to pitch the final two innings. They shut down the Padres and we won the game 3–0, completing the World Series sweep.

The New York Yankees were world champions, and I was the winning pitcher of the deciding game; but none of that registered with me at the time. I felt numb. As soon as the game was over I went into the clubhouse and called my dad. He’d watched the game on television and we talked about how I’d done. He told me he was proud of me and then he told me he felt fine. Right then I knew he was going to be OK. For the first time in a long time I could finally relax. All the pressure lifted, the pressure of a 162-game season, the play-offs, and the series, but most important, the pressure of worrying about my dad. God took it all away and gave me peace.

Because my dad was doing much better I didn’t have to rush to the airport to catch a plane back to Houston. My wife, Laura, and I decided to enjoy the moment and join the team for our victory celebration party in a San Diego ballroom. The place was packed with people who were going around shaking hands and slapping each other on the back and celebrating our win. Laura and I relaxed at a table and took it all in. We wanted to savor the moment. Strangers constantly came up to our table to ask if they could have their picture taken with us. Most of the time we smiled and let them.

But then in the middle of the party, a woman I’d never met came up and asked Laura, “I’m sorry to bother you, but do you mind if I kiss your husband?” Laura didn’t have to answer. I cut the woman off and said, “I don’t think that would be appropriate.” After she left Laura turned to me and asked, “If women act like this while I’m with you, what are they like when I’m not around?”

You can probably guess the answer. Women aren’t shy about throwing themselves at professional athletes. That’s how temptation is. You don’t have to go looking for it. It will come looking for you. And it usually waits for moments like this. I was physically and emotionally drained after a grueling season and the agony of wondering if my father would survive his surgery. My thoughts weren’t focused on God. They weren’t focused anywhere. I was too tired to focus. But temptation didn’t care. It waited until I was at my weakest and then it struck. You don’t have to be a big league ballplayer for this to happen. None of us has to go out of our way to find a situation where we’ll be tempted. Just wait. It’ll find you.

That’s why you and I have to always be on our guard. We can’t wait until we’re in the middle of some situation we can’t handle to get serious about following Jesus. And that’s what we are really talking about when we talk about purity. This is more than a question of saying no to sex until you are married or not drinking alcohol. It goes beyond resisting temptation or cleaning up your language. All that is secondary to something much bigger and more important. Living a life of purity means getting serious about God and living in a way that honors Jesus Christ.

How Serious Are You?
I didn’t wait until I made it to the big leagues to commit myself to honoring Christ with my life. If I had waited until I made the Yankees in 1995, it would have been too late. No, this was a decision I made back in high school when I decided I was serious about being a Christian.

I grew up hearing about Jesus, but my family didn’t go to a church that emphasized having a personal relationship with Him. That idea was completely new to us. My sister was the first person in our family to experience this kind of relationship. She went to a revival at a Baptist church in our town and came home talking about getting saved. I listened to what she said and decided to check it out for myself. Not long after, I asked Jesus to forgive me of my sin and to become my Lord and Savior. I was eleven at the time. Pretty soon my mom and dad started going to church with my sister and me, and they were saved as well.

Being a Christian is a cinch when you’re eleven. But once I got into high school it wasn’t so easy. The friends I’d grown up with and played baseball with every summer started doing things I knew I couldn’t be a part of, not if I was serious about Jesus. In my junior and senior years of high school I had to make some decisions about who I would be. I had friends I’d known all my life and suddenly we were going in different directions. I had to decide whether I wanted to run with guys I knew would bring me down.

It wasn’t easy separating myself from these guys who’d been my friends all through grade school and junior high, but I couldn’t call myself a Christian and do what they were doing. I faced a tough choice. And it wasn’t just a decision of which crowd I would run with. In that moment I had to choose what kind of relationship I wanted to have with God. Did I want Him to be someone I called out to when times were tough, only to ignore Him the rest of the time as I lived however I wanted? Or did I want to live my life for Him, to honor Him in everything I do? In the end there wasn’t a choice. For me the bottom line is this: what’s the point of getting saved and making a commitment to Christ if you aren’t going to live the way God wants you to live? Why live a lie? If you’re going to say you’re a Christian, live it. Don’t be a phony. Walk the walk.

That’s what this entire book comes down to. We’re just in the first chapter, but I might as well be straight with you. This whole question of purity isn’t about how true love waits until you are married to have sex. You can do that and still miss the point. Purity begins with a commitment to live in a way that honors Jesus Christ, a commitment that spreads over every part of your life. A life of purity means honoring the Lord in the language you use, the movies you watch, the way you conduct yourself in class. It’s a total package. The Bible says to do everything for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). That’s what purity is all about. Unless you are willing to do that, you might as well stop reading right now.

I don’t want to come across like some sort of supersaint. By myself I can’t follow through on this commitment anymore than you can. But God doesn’t leave us by ourselves. I found once I made up my mind to stay true to God no matter what anyone else did, God blessed my life. He made it where pressure from friends wasn’t that hard for me to deal with. When you’re in high school, it seems like you’re constantly worrying about other people’s opinions. But God took that fear away from me. He blessed me by making me strong enough to stand alone even at a young age.

Want to read more? Look for StrikeZone by Andy Pettitte and Dr. Bob Reccord at your local Christian bookstore, or order it online at lifewaystores.com.

(Excerpted with permission from Chapter 1 of Strikezone, by Andy Pettitte and Dr. Bob Reccord; © 2005 Broadman & Holman.)