I think any great performer or athlete has to have a little bit of a gut to be great.

Obviously, the only reason I'm where I am is because God has gifted me and He has seen fit to put me where I am. I have to honor that by using my influence and my status on the team and in the game of baseball for good and to His purpose.

Living the Christian life is also challenging but for different reasons. The same desire to do well exists - to live a consistent life that honors and pleases the Lord. The big difference is that God isn't evaluating my actions and basing His love on how well I 'perform'. His love for me is unconditional. Even when I mess up He doesn't threaten to trade me off His team.

I want to play every game of my career in an Astros uniform.

Agile, athletic, sleek-all these things describe my game!

The only way that we can truly have a purpose and an enriching life experience is to do all things in Christ and through the power of Christ. What happens when we're all about doing good works and we're doing that outside of the power of Christ is that we end up getting the glory and the whole point of this deal is that God gets the glory. That verse beautifully illustrates that point.

The overriding thing has to be a love for people. If you don't love people, you don't care if we live in a morally degrading society. Christ is about love, and that's what we want to be about as well.