There are many different places that we call home in life. “Home� is a relative word that distinguishes an area of comfort above any other place that we may travel. It is where our soul feels relaxation and where our bodies can rest. It is the polar opposite of work, an environment that produces stress and deadlines. Home, just the mention of the word brings a feeling of peace to our very existence.

Trot Nixon has had various places that he has called home in his life. His beginnings were in the state of North Carolina, a home that he and I share. His home has been on a baseball field using his talents at the highest level, winning the World Series with the Boston Red Sox. He was at home in Boston, growing up in their organization and playing there for ten seasons. His home now is in Cleveland Indians, as he has moved on in his career and began building a foundation in a new city. Ultimately, Trot knows that none of these are his true home, the one that he will reach when the Lord calls him there.
For Trot Nixon, that is the home that matters most, the one that he strives for each day of his life, on the field and off the field.

In a new camp this season, with an upstart team hoping to make a playoff run, God has opened a new door for Trot to walk through. I recently caught up with Trot at Spring Training to discuss baseball and faith.

His Life

Trot grew up in North Carolina, a standout in baseball and football at his high school in Wilmington. Trot was selected in the first round of baseball’s amateur draft in 1993 by the Boston Red Sox. He would become a fan-favorite in a city known for its’ sports heroes, i.e. Larry Bird, Tom Brady, Kevin McHale, Ray Bourque. He would also be a part of breaking “the curse� as the Sox won the World Series in 2004.

Q â€" Can you tell me when you gave your life to Christ?

“I accepted Jesus into my life in 1993. I had just been drafted, I had signed, and I was prepared to go to what’s called Instructional League after the season and I accepted Jesus Christ. I think, though, it’s one thing to accept Christ and it’s another thing to accept Christ and live that way. You have your quiet times in prayer, you have your times of fellowship with other believers, and you have times where you are in the Word and I didn’t do a very good job of that. I didn’t know how to go about expanding my horizons or growing the way that I wanted to grow. That didn’t happen until my first season in Boston, which was 1999. There was a period there where I would go to church and I would go to Sunday school things when I was at home, but during the season, I wouldn’t have quiet time. There would be times that I would pray but it wasn’t an every night thing. There was always a baseball chapel on Sundays and I would always make sure that I was there. You would get fed a little bit…it was like 20-25 minutes and thank goodness for that (the baseball chapel), but I just wasn’t feeding myself enough until 1999.�

His Career

Trot has stood on the national stage for many years, reaching the pinnacle of the baseball world in the World Series in 2004. He took part in that magical postseason that saw the Red Sox overtake the Yankees after falling down three games to none. This past off-season, Trot put on a new uniform, moving on in life to become a part of the Cleveland Indians organization.

Q â€" What’s the biggest change now that you have left Boston?

“Baseball’s the same. I think the biggest thing is learning new names, of course you do that every year in Spring Training; learning a new city as far as Spring Training and during the season. I think there are some new and exciting adventures for this ball team, myself, my wife and I especially, and I feel that, if my work in Boston, on the field and off the field, was not over, I think God would have made it happen for me to go back there. I feel He thinks my job is done there and He wants me here in Cleveland. Obviously for the reason of playing baseball, but there may also be some other reasons that He will bring for my wife and I and I look forward to that.�

Trot also spoke about his off-season back surgery, a trying time for himself and his family. As he spoke about it, you could feel the difficulty that he had faced, yet he understood that God was with him throughout the journey, each step of the way. He said, “I had back surgery and there were some trying times. Depression set in and I didn’t allow God to be that pedestal point. I just have to thank God because He is so awesome. During that whole difficult time, I knew that He was with me and I knew that Satan was trying his best to discourage me.�

Q â€" What do you think about the Indians in 2007?

“I think that every team out there should feel like they have an opportunity to win a championship. There might be some teams out there that know they don’t have the firepower, so to say, but I think this team definitely does have the firepower. They proved it two years ago when they came up just short of the playoffs. They had kind of a rough season last year but you can learn a lot from a rough season. To get back to a Biblical sense, there’s a reason why God has allowed Cleveland to go through that situation; so they could learn from it. I think that a lot of the players that were young last year are obviously still young, but they’ve got that one year under their belts so they have an understanding of what they need to do and hopefully we can get to the postseason. You have to pitch, play solid defense, and you have to have timely hitting to go to the postseason and win a championship.�

As I asked Trot about the steroids scandal that has surrounded baseball, he said something that most of us have failed to do. He said, “I think we all need to just pray about it.� As Christians, that answer is so true and should be one of the first things that we all did once the story began making headlines a few years ago. He also said that he felt the focus of the media attention needed to be shifted on to the positive things that baseball players were doing, things that often go unnoticed.

Q â€" The highlight of your baseball career â€" was it the World Series?

“Yeah, I’d have to say that. My family was there, my wife and my two boys were there, my mom and dad, my sister. I wish that my older brother and sister could have been there but they had to work. That was definitely the highlight, just watching God move through that team and gelling that team together, with what we went through being down three games to nothing to the Yankees and coming back and winning that series. For me, I didn’t even think that I was going to get to play in the postseason because I was hurt almost the entire year. I just thought that I had no chance to be back in time enough to prove that I could pay in the postseason, but the Man upstairs did it.�

Q â€" How has your faith influenced your baseball career?

“I think it’s extended my career a great deal because it allowed me to surrender to Him. I was so involved (in baseball) in the sense that I became very moody. You know, every time you got out, you would get upset. You were fine if everything was going good, but when things were going bad, I just felt like it was the end of the world. During my career as a minor leaguer, it just seemed like everything was bad; dark days every day. In 1998, a man in our organization said, “You know what? God’s given you an ability to play this game and sooner or later, if you would just let that ability take over, you’ll be right where you want to be.� It kind of stuck with me, you know. God has given me the ability to play this game and the last thing you think about is being thankful for playing this game. I think it’s helped me to grow to understand that He has given me the ability to play this game and while in this game, He has given me many platforms. Obviously, I have not fulfilled those platforms the way that I’ve wanted to because I just didn’t know. The older I got, the more Christians surrounded me, especially our chaplain in Boston, Walt Day. He took a lot of time out of his day to sit down with my wife and I and work with us on Bible studies once or twice a week, beginning in 1999 and it continues to this day as we have developed a great friendship. He is the chaplain for the Patriots as well as the Red Sox. My wife and I have two kids and you understand that there are other things more important in life than baseball. My relationship with God and my family, and then baseball comes in there. A lot of people won’t understand that because their priorities are somewhere else. We all put other things on the pedestal, but God needs to be on the pedestal. Faith also helped me to take the good with the bad. The thing I’ve learned is that if God gives me the opportunity to wake up the next day, it’s a good day and I have a chance to glorify His name and do something special with it.�

His Advice

Trot has been in the spotlight for many years and has experienced things that many of us will never get the chance to experience. His advice is something that we all can learn from as he sees things from a fresh perspective that many of us have not been able to see through in our own lives.

Q â€" What do you think is the biggest problem facing Christian men today?

“Obviously, for anyone, it’s sin that’s out there. A distance second would be us, being Christians, and not having confidence and shying away from speaking about our faith, like asking friends, “Hey man, why don’t you come to church with me?� That’s a distant second. The first one is just sin itself because its’ (sins’) got so many faces. It could be a friend that is egging you on to not go to Bible Study or it could be a situation like me family is coming in on Sunday and we have Bible Study on Tuesday, but sin creeps in and says, “Oh, just go out to eat with your family.� Satan is the biggest demon out there to Christian men and women.�

Q â€" When was the time in your life that you felt closest to God?

“I feel like I’m close to Him everyday. I think you can learn how close you are to God in the good times and in the bad times. It’s give and take. It’s easy to not be very close to God when things are going well but then try to be as close as possible when things are going bad. It’s important to be steady, day in and day out. When things are going good, praise Him for all of those great things and then when difficulty sets in, praise Him as well. It could be a situation where I haven’t gotten a hit in thirty at-bats and I know it’s a slump. It’s hard for people to say, “Thank you for this slump because He’ll work something out of this�. You can pray that He’ll give you the strength and the lesson that might need to be learned. I think I’ve been close to the Lord since 1999. It’s real easy for people, and I’ve done this myself, to go through those pitfalls and get out of your routine. I feel like my routine is a whole lot better during the season than it is in the off-season. There are so many distractions in the off-season, like taking trips, running around taking kids to school, working out, and this, that, and the other, and all of a sudden, you’re distracted and you don’t stay on the same path. It doesn’t mean that you’re not close (to God) but you fall in those pitfalls and that closeness that you’re accustomed to isn’t quite there.�

I also asked Trot about his favorite Bible verse and he said that he didn’t have one in particular. He said that he liked Philippians 4:13 and Isaiah 40:31. He went on to tell me that he, Mike Timlin, and Matt Clement used to pick out a verse and give each other a week to memorize it. I thought that was pretty awesome considering that the clubhouse is always depicted as a party atmosphere with loud music and television.

Trot Nixon will be wearing a different baseball uniform this season but in life, Trot will always play for only one team. He spoke with passion about the game that he plays but there was more passion in his voice when he spoke about God who has transformed his life. He has decided who the Lord of his life is and he will never change sides on that issue. He also knows that, although this season brings about a change and a new home, the true home that he is playing for is still being prepared for him in heaven.

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