Archive for March 27th, 2008

As we are coming up to opening day I can barely stand the excitement.  I am immediately thrown back into my playing days in college where I can almost smell the grass and the glove oil in my nose.  Of course if you know me that is funny but it is a smell that any ball player that has spent a long time in the game knows.  I then get a hunger for sunflower seeds and peanuts.  What an awesome time of the year!!!  So in my excitement I prepare to brush off my Xbox and get my MLB season back up and running (I am sure Krystal is glad to hear that) and one thing that I must do is check out the stats of my favorite players and begin constructing my team. 

As I begin that process I always start with the guys that I played with or know to see how they are doing and see what their season is going to look like.  I always start with the guys that I played against either in college or high-school like Trot Nixon or Billy Wagner.  But then move on to the guys I know and really hope that they are doing well.  The most infamous one of those that I know is Josh Hamilton (I played with his older brother Jason, Josh was our batboy).  And I say that because he is most well known for getting drafted number one in the 1999 draft out of high school,  then getting into drugs and falling out of the MLB to the point that no one thought that he would ever play again.  Well to make a long story as short as possible (please read his story though it is amazing) He is after much work now the starting centerfielder for the Texas Rangers.  As I was reading his stats this morning, he made a statement that God really spoke to me about.  Here is the excerpt from the article…

“It’s like He’s standing beside me, plugged into me,” Hamilton said. “I’m not one of those guys who talks about God because it sounds good. It’s because He changed my life. One thing I keep in mind first thing in the morning is no matter what I do, the Man upstairs already knows what will happen.

“All I can do is play to the best of my ability and have fun. If I strike out or make an error, I will know in my heart that I at least did my best. That’s the way I looked at it last year whether I went 4-for-4 or 0-for-4.”

 Josh is a former crack addict that has been given an opportunity to play again.  He could take all of the credit and talk about how he beat the addiction and get all of man’s glory right now, but instead he is giving all of the glory to God and having an oppurtunity to witness to those who may be in the same place he was.   So my question is this:   What has God put you through or where has God placed you so that you can be an example of His glory?  What has He brought you through so that you can be there for someone else who is going through it now?  And if you do have that opportunity are you giving the glory to Him or to you?

God Bless ~ Tyler