Manny Ramirez said that playing baseball and winning home runs are nothing compared to finding God and putting Him in the center of his life.
The former Red Sox all-star player revealed that he did not know what to do with his time and his life after he stopped playing in major league baseball in 2011 and retired as a hitting instructor for the Chicago Cubs in 2016.
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Then he felt compelled to learn more about God and the Bible so he enrolled in seminary and that’s when he found God. He eventually started preaching the Bible, going from one hospital “just to preach and teach people the Bible.”
“I’ve been doing that for five years now. It hasn’t been easy. It’s something that’s great. It’s changed my mindset. I’m like a rookie. I’m just on the bench. Sometimes they give me 10 minutes or 15 minutes. And that’s it,” Ramirez told the Boston Globe.
He said that it takes time and that he is still growing in faith. But he is determined to “get to know God” and “have a relationship with him.”
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Ramirez, a board member at Planted Ministries which aims for a spiritual awakening across Latin America, also recalled everything that had happened in his life. He said he considered them blessings because from those experiences he got to learn.
“You think you can do whatever you want, but there are consequences. You get knocked down and you say, ‘What’s going on here?’ But then I started going to church… With all the power and all the fame, if you don’t learn, you’re going to keep falling, worse and worse. And being in the wrong places at the wrong time. Thinking you can do whatever you want.”
As a self-identified reformed Baptist, Ramirez said that having a relationship with God is something that he can’t really explain. But faith in Him makes you understand and see. He said that “when God calls, you should humble yourself and you can see.”