For as long as he can remember, Rickey Hill knew God was calling him to play professional baseball. The only problem was Hill was born with a defect that required him to wear leg braces. His father, a strict Baptist preacher, wanted him to enter the ministry, not professional sports. However, his faith and a fierce belief that miracles can happen forced Hill to fight for his dream.

Hill told The Christian Post, “I always believed I should be a professional ballplayer. I’ve never, ever wavered from my faith, period. Never did, which would be easy to do when your father’s kind of against what you’re doing. I still never wavered from my faith at all. It’s the same still today.” Hill’s incredible story is the subject of a new film called “The Hill,” starring Dennis Quaid, Colin Ford, and Scott Glenn.

It details how Hill, who was naturally able to hit a baseball despite his disability, overcame several struggles to make it to the minor leagues, eventually leading the 1978 Grays Harbor Loggers to a Northwest League championship. Hill was the team’s top home run hitter. He said, “God gives you the talent; either have it or you don’t. It’s just a matter of what you do with it. You can take that talent, and you can work.”

Hill continued, “Scripture says that faith without works is dead. You can have all the faith in the world, but if you don’t have that work that goes along beside that faith, it’s dead. So I always looked at that Scripture my whole life, knowing I had to work to make it happen. And I did, every day.” The story of “The Hill” revolves around Hill’s relationship with his father, a well-meaning but strict pastor, played by Dennis Quaid. Both roles pulled at Hill, the preacher’s son who once imitated his father’s sermons and the athlete who knew he had a higher calling on the baseball field.

The film captures how Hill bridges these worlds, eventually realizing, “You can serve in ministry anywhere.” Throughout his life, he’s been guided by Philippians 4:13: “I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.” He said, “I wanted to be in the ministry, but I also wanted to play baseball at the same time, so my father and I kind of battled it out there a little bit and came to the conclusion that I can serve in the ministry while I’m playing ball.”

Now 64, Hill still faces physical challenges. “I’ve broken nearly every bone I’ve got,” he said. Yet, he views his story as one that glorifies God and inspires others. Hill said, “He’s given me all the answers to a lot of questions that have happened throughout my lifetime of why did God choose me as a vessel. It gave me the answers for why I was paralyzed on the baseball field. It didn’t make sense. And then, later on, I got the answer. It’s because of this film.”

When people see his story, Hill hopes they ask themselves, “What is God calling me to do?” and then answer that calling to the best of their ability.