Mark Johnson

1-12-2009
Mark Johnson

Our coaching staff with the Dallas Patriots attended the ABCA (American Baseball Coaches Association) coaches convention this past weekend. Throughout the weekend we were able to hear from great speakers such as Nolan Ryan, Tommy John, and more. One of the speakers was Mark Johnson, the head baseball coach at Sam Houston State University. Prior to Sam Houston State, Coach Johnson was the head baseball coach at Texas A&M. He is known as a legend in the game of baseball, and ranks No. 16 among active NCAA Division I baseball head coaches in career victories with a 24-year record of 989 wins, 504 losses and three ties. Johnson was Sporting News National Coach of the Year in 1993 and United States Olympic Committee Coach of the Year in 1999. He is a member of both the ABCA and Texas Baseball Hall of Fames. Most importantly, he is a man of God that lives to serve his maker.

There were thousands of baseball coaches in the audience listening to Coach Johnson speak, and to hear him speak about Jesus Christ was amazing! The audience goes to the convention to hear about baseball, but the key to success was very clear in the message. Our destiny is extremely important and whom we live our life for will certainly decide where we ultimately end up. To that end, Coach Johnson read the following quote:

Thoughts to Destiny

Be careful of your thoughts, because they become your body language.
Be careful of your body language, because it becomes your attitude.
Be careful about your attitude, because it becomes words.
Be careful what you say, because it becomes actions.
Be careful of your actions, because they become your habits.
Be careful of your habits, because they become your character.
And be careful of your character, because it will become your destiny.
Coach Johnson has impacted thousands of lives in his coaching career, and its fitting he would read such a powerful quote during his message. May we all live a life of destiny!