Describe Your Relationship with Christ (aka Your Testimony)
- - Early on in my childhood, my
story is very much similar to most. I was raised in a Christian household with
two amazing parents who forced my two brothers and I to attend Church. I
accepted Christ as my personal Savior at the age of 12. I never did doubt the
existence of God, it was very apparent and evident by just looking around that
there had to be a creator. After I got saved, my life didn't really look that
much different than it had before. I wasn't a bad kid by any means, never
drank, smoke, or was promiscuous when it came to girls. To this day, I've never
had a sip of alcohol nor a smoke, dip, etc. I knew a lot about Christ and God
the Father, but I didn't really know them. You see, I was still pursuing my
personal agenda for MY life, that agenda being baseball. Baseball consumed me
and it was my idol. Even though I would put my relationship with God the Father
and Christ in a box on a shelf until Sunday rolled around, God was gracious and
good to me. I ended up getting an athletic scholarship to Asbury University, a
small private Christian institution located in Wilmore, KY. I attended AU
originally solely to play ball but thanks be to God, I began to see that life
was about more than just ball. During my four years at Asbury, I did grow in my
faith and my Christian walk. Once I got drafted after my senior year by the
Atlanta Braves in 2011, it was a culture shock going from a tight knit
Christian filled atmosphere to that of minor league baseball. I soon found out
that my identity would be looked at by most as a professional athlete. And for
the first time in my life, the thing I wanted the most, the thing I had worked
my whole life for and dreamt of, being a professional ballplayer was a reality;
and yet I wasn't as ecstatic or happy as I thought I would be. I began to look
at who I was, you see for the longest time my identity was shaped by baseball
and being known as a baseball player, my four years at Asbury, I sat in chapel
three times a week and yet I still missed that fundamental truth that my
identity isn't founded by the things of this world but that it is found and
rooted in Christ. After the end of my first and only season in professional
ball, I decided to walk away from the game that for so many years defined who I
thought I was. Presently, my relationship with Christ is still a work in
progress as most are, always moving forward never remaining stagnate. At this
point in my walk, I am letting go of the reigns and trusting that God will
provide. Currently I just got my master's and am currently seeking employment.
I am getting married to a beautiful Christian woman in December of this year
and right now I have not the slightest clue of what I am suppose to be doing.
I've got student loans and debt piled to the ceiling and yet in 5 months I'll
be responsible for another one of God's beautiful creations. I am trusting and
it is my sincere prayer, that I will be where God wants me to be, doing what God
wants me to do. It's no longer Gardner's agenda because it isn't about me nor
is it my life to live, it is all about glorifying the Father and being
obedient. I still struggle everyday with the temptations of this world and the
constant battle of giving it all up to God, I'm not perfect by any means and I
am and forever will be a work in progress. At the same time, I'm not the person
I was two years ago either."
How Important Has God Been to Your Success As An Athlete?
- - God is the reason I was able
to get to where I wanted to as an athlete period. As a kid I wanted to be two
things, a preacher and a ballplayer. God used the game of baseball to take me
places I never ever would have had the chance to visit, to meet amazing people
that I never would have gotten to meet, and to form genuine relationships that
I never could have imagined were possible. All the glory be to God, as an
athlete, it was my drive to go out onto that field and perform for the sole
purpose of glorifying HIM and bringing HIM praise. I felt, and still do feel
that I am going to be held accountable for how I go about using and displaying
the gifts and talents that my Father has bestowed onto me. It's only because of
God that I was drafted and played professional baseball, I'm nothing, HE is
everything."
Do You Have Any Favorite Bible Verses? If so, what Is (Are) they?
Isaiah 53:3 - 5
3"He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain,
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
- I get chills every time I read
or hear that verse, HE did that for ME. Our world today can't comprehend
that.
What Are Your Ambitions for the Future?
- - Simple answer is to be where
God wants me to be, doing what God wants me to do. Interests are definitely
coaching and working with collegiate athletes as well as sports outreach and
recreation.
