"IMAGINE WHAT YOU could do if you got on the juice." Suggestions that I start taking steroids came my way many times during my professional baseball career. I was playing at a time when reliance on performance—enhancing drugs was a serious and persistent temptation to many ballplayers looking for an edge.

Sometimes it can be tempting to take what seems to be the easy way out of a situation. It might be to lie about something, procrastinate, cheat on a test, or use drugs illegally to make the human body more powerful. At this point, however, I was rescued by my upbringing in Christian Science, which had taught me that these are false foundations on which to build a life or career.

The Bible makes it clear that such foundations will eventually fall or fade away: "He that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great" (Luke 6:49). Regular prayer has convinced me that we need to stick to the spiritual high ground rather than look for shortcuts.

I recalled some of those stories from the Bible in which various people were helped by their absolute faith in God to resist temptation. Among them was Jesus, whom the devil repeatedly tried to turn from what he knew to be right (see Luke 4: 1-13). His experience is echoed in the Lord's Prayer, in which he urged his followers to pray, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever" (Matt. 6:13).

I was also helped by the account of Daniel's defiance of King Darius's unconditional decree that for 30 days no one was to pray to any god or person other than him. The penalty: a spell in the lions' den. Daniel could have taken the easy way out and obeyed the king, but he continued to pray just as he had always done and was protected from those hungry lions (see Dan., chap. 6).

Mary Baker Eddy outlined a way for anyone to advance spiritually when she wrote: "If the disciple is advancing spiritually, he is striving to enter in. He constantly turns away from material sense, and looks towards the imperishable things of Spirit. If honest, he will be in earnest from the start, and gain a little each day in the right direction, till at last he finishes his course with joy" (Science and Health, p. 21).

These ideas about honesty and commitment were invaluable when it was first suggested I try steroids, and I'm glad to say it didn't take long for the power of wisdom to kick in. I already knew that God was my ultimate and only source of strength. Why would I ever need to turn to a drug or chemical agent to provide additional power when I had all I could ever need flowing constantly from God? I'd been able to express God's qualities on the playing field for many years. God had blessed me with the ability to play a game I'd loved since I was five years old, so my next step was clear. I simply told myself, "Go out each day, and show your gratitude in quality performances."

And I'm grateful to have been able to do just that. Each year I was one of the top home—run hitters on my team, and twice voted as a Minor League all—star. I proved to myself—and to my teammates—that I could rely entirely on God—given abilities to advance my career. The temptation to consider using performance—enhancing drugs was never an issue again.

Now, as a full—time college baseball coach, I have the opportunity to share with young people the importance of relying on God for help in every aspect of their lives. I point out that if they're presented with temptations, it's essential to remember experiences like those of Jesus and Daniel, and many other Bible figures. Just as they were able to resist the temptation to rely on a power apart from God, so can each one of us. Prayer reveals that the divine Mind is the source of all strength, stamina, skill, concentration—whatever is called for in a particular situation, on or off the field. |css