Batista

BATISTA: I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE

My very first victory ever involved a terrible scare.

The Remo and Uberlandia soccer squads were CBF Cup finalists in 1984 and the game was in Belem, which favored the local Remo team supported by its thousands of fans. But the Uberlandia won the game.

The fans didn't like the result of the game and were also dissatisfied with the referee and they invaded the soccer field. People on the grand stands saw a new game, a dispute between the Uberlandia squad and the referee on one side and the infuriated fans and the Remo squad as the police and police dogs ran in all directions. Punches, foot-kicking, four letter words, fighting, and all kinds of physical aggression replaced the ball and the wonderful movements of soccer.

In the midst of the confusion a fan fall dead. Someone shouted: "One of the Uberlandia players killed the guy!"

Suddenly, everybody came right against us. Our team ran for their lives and we all crammed into the locker room. We locked the door and held our bodies against it just o make sure they would not break through it. The fans on the outside kept shouting: "Let's go get them! Let's kill them! Come on!" Man, I thought I was going to die on that day.

As the song says, "I should have listened to mother . . ."

Mom America, his mother, wanted him to become a doctor. Batista did follow what she said up until he finished high school. But that was when he tested for the Uberlandia Football (Soccer) Club and was approved and signed his contract right away. In order to reconcile his soccer career with his studies, he chose PE rather than medicine as his major and completed his College degree.

Besides a College degree, he also held the title of Brazilian champion with the CBF Cup. But he was not sure he would come out alive on that day. The mob was just about to break down that door and they were intent on lynching all the players.

Fortunately, the police came to our rescue. They managed to send the rioters away but all the team was taken to prison. We left prison the following day when the autopsy revealed that the man had died from a heart attack, not from bodily injuries.

Wake Up, Batista!

Just like every player, I had big dreams: I wanted to play for a great squad, I wanted to earn a lot of money, become famous and enjoy all the pleasures of life.

My religious life was very active. I used to go to church almost every day. And I used to repeat the same phrase at church: "I am going to behave like a good guy." But as soon as the Catholic mass was over, I would walk around the corner and start every wrong thing all over again.

I was a superstitious guy. I had an amulet to dispel any negative spells or envy from others. I was restless inside. I felt an emptiness that left me always sad. I sought to intensify my church activities in order to fill that void. But nothing changed in my life.

One day, when I least expected, the dream began to come true. I signed a contract with the Atletico Mineiro. I was sure my life would change since now I was playing for a big squad. I was sure I would have everything I always dreamed - or so I thought.

But soon I had a serious injury and I was forced to stop playing for a while. Worse: people in the soccer club thought I was just faking my injury and in fact I had nothing wrong with me. I was deeply frustrated with my dreams of laying for a famous squad. Besides I didn't have any real friends in Belo Horizonte, the city where I was living at the time. I got depressed again and I started thinking about my life. It was as if I was looking at a dry stream. Even in that big club I felt thirsty for something. I felt uneasily empty inside.

I started attending the meetings held by the Athletes for Christ. Four months later I came to realize that Christ had died in my place on that cross, thus setting me free from eternal death - which is something far worse than all the troubles I had experienced in my life as a soccer pro.

From that point on, my values began to change. I met wonderful brothers who helped me in my life with Christ. I began attending a church where I had the chance to learn more about the Bible.

God helped me to go through that difficult period in my life. He helped me to seek a different turning point in my career with patience and courage.

Batista returned to the soccer fields and never left the main squad of Atletico. He was state champion in 1985, 1986, 1988, and 1989. Because of his excellent performance as a defender and his remarkable goals, he was invited to play for the Brazilian National squad which traveled through Europe and Israel in August 1987, and in the friendly games against Chile in Uberlandia and against Germany in Brasilia. He also disputed the Bicentenary Tournament in Australia and received the silver medal in the Seoul Olympics - he even scored one goal wearing the famous Brazilian jersey.

"Beware of this Joao Leite - the guy might try to convert you!", said a friend from the Uberlandia before I went to play for the Atletico Mineiro.

"Don't worry. He won't get me!", I replied.

Escaping from Joao, God's goal keeper, was something difficult for the adversaries, but not for me. What I didn't know was that the God of Joao was after me!

Be on the look out! He also is coming after you!

If you want to know how much God cares about you and what He can do to see you playing on His Team, read Luke 15.1-10.

If you would like to know more about Jesus and what He can do for you, just click the button on the left side of your screen to change your life.