Go Red Sox!

Here we go quick update on the Red Sox. Well it looks like Theo’s off the block for now, the Sox have had a great May and it looks like things are coming together. They went from an abysmal April making it look like a long and boring season and then surged up to 5.5 games behind the Rays and 2 (yes 2) games behind the “evil empire” Yankees. Now they get the next couple of weeks against the A’s, Orioles, and Indians which should push them up farther. Also the defense has come around as Beltre goes from an error machine to the guy we thought we were getting, and did I mention his team leading .335 average? Ortiz also has been great this month, well not great, AMAZING! With a .363 (I think) average and 10 homers he hasn’t had a month this productive since the time he hit 54 homers in 2006, and he also hasn’t hit as high as .270 since 2007 when he hit .332. The pitching has also made a slight comeback, Buchholz and Lester have been great leading the team to back to back wins practically every time they pitch. Lackey is still lackluster, Dice-K is a gamble, and Wakefield is pretty good for a spot starter, but what they really need is for Beckett to come back and be the ace he has been in the past. If he can come back and dominate again then the Sox will be true contenders down the stretch. Until then two out of five is not good enough to win when it really matters. In May the Sox showed us hope, there’s still a lot of baseball left to play.

More on Humility

I’ve been reading the book of Proverbs in my devotions (there’s 31 chapters so one for every day of the month), and it really is amazing. It’s a lot of common sense stuff the no-nonsense practical advice that we really need and is a great example of God’s wisdom that He gives to those who listen to Him. One verse that I say that struck me was 27:2, “Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips.” I wrote about humility the other day and this is a bit of an addition to it. I am guilty of this, there are times (I try to keep them few and far between) where I say “Man! I’m pretty good at this!” The though, is this there is nothing wrong with a little confidence (in baseball it is a necessity) but pride or to use a “fancy” word, hubris is wrong. When I go around and gloat by saying I’m the best baseball player or the best baker I take the glory away from God, I shift my focus on myself and away from Him. When I do my thing and take satisfaction in that, then my focus is not on myself but on the joy I get from what I’m doing and then the praise goes where it should. When you let others praise you instead of instantly praising yourself you get yourself in the right perspective, and you derive your joy in the satisfaction of others, not in how good you are at something. While confidence is never a bad thing, boastfulness definitely is. And on the same note as my last post, this doesn’t mean you go around saying you’re the worst or that you’re not good at what you do, it just means you don’t seek pleasure in being number one. If I baked a batch of biscotti and they came out burnt, sure they didn’t come out well but isn’t the real joy in baking them?

We've Got to Keep Waiting

I’ve been reading 1 Samuel and one thing that struck me is the contrast between Samuel and Saul. The book starts off with Hannah, Samuel’s mother-to-be upset that she can’t have any kids, so she makes a promise to God that if He gives her a son she will dedicate him into service, enter Samuel. Samuel grows up and becomes very close to God, as a young boy he hears God’s voice and delivers a message to Eli, a priest thus becoming a prophet. He then goes on the be very well respected and grows closer to God and wiser and eventually becomes sort of like a leader to the Israelites. Eventually that doesn’t do it for the Israelites though and they want a king, so Samuel finds one for them, enter Saul. Saul becomes filled with God’s Spirit and is a pretty good ruler until he falters and goes his own way. Saul was fighting the Philistines with his son Jonathan and his army and was told to wait for Samuel so that he and the troops could offer sacrifices to God before the battle. But Saul and his men panic, Samuel doesn’t show so Saul in an effort to keep people under control, makes the offerings himself and just as he is done Samuel shows up. Saul then loses God’s Spirit and his right as king and it all goes downhill from there. The point though is this, Saul didn’t trust God, he didn’t trust Samuel, and later on he doesn’t even trust David. Basically he tries to go his own way, he was brought up from nothing (literally, he came out of nowhere) but then left God because he didn’t trust him, he didn’t have the faith. Often times life gets that way, we wait on God for a response, an answer to a prayer and as soon as we falter, as soon as things get tense we leave and sometimes the answer was just on the way. It takes faith to wait, it takes faith to pray and hope for an answer but the thing is Samuel came, he didn’t fail Saul but Saul failed him. God is always there and He will come, He might not come on our schedule but He will come when we need Him and He never fails us. Faith is tough, but it is never unrequited.

Humility, More than Eating Humble Pie

I blog a lot about pride, and I feel that a lot of people talk about it too, but what about humility? I like to think I am a humble person; I like to think that I am rarely proud, and I like to think that, that statement is 100% true. The problem is this, it isn’t, I am not humble all the time and neither is everyone else. Pride is a sin, and by pride I mean being proud of oneself, hubris. I don’t mean being prideful of a job well done, of one’s nation, or of a great accomplishment, but pride taken far enough to exalt oneself above else. Now, humility you would think would be the opposite, but it’s not, at least 100%. Pride is putting yourself first, naturally humility would mean putting yourself last. The thing though is this, if I were to put myself last every time after a while I would get angry, that is, if I were in the wrong mindset. Whenever I think of humility (well not every time) I think of “It’s a Wonderful Life” where George Bailey is fed up of putting himself last and feels he always gets the short end of the stick. That is what happens when we shove ourselves down, and that is not true humility. True humility is putting others before ourselves, loving those around us and focusing on them before we think about ourselves. It’s doing a favor, sharing a meal, giving time to someone else because they were made by God and thus are immeasurably valuable. George Bailey later realized that in putting his peers before himself he stored up his treasure in Heaven and in his time of need was prayed for by his town and taken care of by God, that is the result of true humility. When we put ourselves last we focus on ourselves, we say things like “Oh I shouldn’t do that because it’ll make me look…” we constantly become self absorbed with our actions. In putting others first, and God first we take our focus off of ourselves and onto those around us. And that, is humility.

Red Sox Resolutions (Not Another Sports Post)

I’ve been thinking about the Red Sox and how I can speak for pretty much all of New England, we’re mad at Theo Epstein for his lousy offseason moves. Then I had a thought, is the fact that the Red Sox stink really something to get mad over, is it really worth the time and energy to care more about them than more important issues in the world today. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about how I view the Red Sox and how I view God and it is often the case that the Sox get more time, energy, and thought than God does, and that’s wrong. I have a devotional book of short snippets from C.S. Lewis books that are usually clumped into sections, well the past few days have been about the Second Coming of Jesus. What I’ve been thinking about is this, if Jesus were to come back write now, let’s say in the middle of the sentence (I can’t take full credit for the sentence, a special thanks to C.S. Lewis), would I be ready? I remember once my home was robbed while I was away, nothing serious just a few lost things and obvious clues left behind from the thief. But I always think “Gosh if I had known I would have done….”, Jesus says the same thing “But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would have not let his house be broken in to . You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him.” Luke 12: 39-40. If Jesus were to come back now and today was my last day on earth would I be ready? How would I react? How did I live my life? Did I live it wastefully, spending all my time on accumulating possessions and worrying about who won the game last night, or did I live it in service of God. I do not mean to detract from watching professional sports (odds are I’m watching the Sox and Celtics tonight), but when the time comes that watching the game becomes more important than who you’re watching it with, there is something amiss. Jesus could come any moment, so instead of wasting time worrying about things that don’t matter the next day, I should be worrying as to whether I would look back and be proud of the life I lead for my Lord.

Race to the King

I’ve been thinking for a while how I would go about writing this post, and the good news is that I found a way but the bad news is up till now while I was thinking I have not really thought about any other posts and thus not blogged. So hopefully this will be a good one and make up for the fact that I only have two posts on the month. I finished the book of Judges fairly recently and one verse that is constantly repeated is “In those days Israel had not king: everyone did as he saw fit”, it appears a few times and really sums up well the chaotic atmosphere in Israel at the time. Basically Judges takes place at a time similar to the 2010 Red Sox, a bridge year, Joshua and Moses are long gone, and the Israelites aren’t really established as a permanent nation yet. But the key in the verse is that Israel really was never supposed to have a king, and that is because God was supposed to be the ruler over them, He conceded a bit though (for more see Deuteronomy 17), but up till now God is still in charge. But looking at the verse you can see it says “Israel had no king” and thus didn’t have God. The rollercoaster theme of running from and to God in Israel is clear, and the results are clear too. When we don’t have God as king over our lives, when we pursue our passions over His for us we ultimately lose our lives. It takes sacrifice and work, it’s not easy, I wouldn’t lie and say it was, but the results of a godless life are just plain sad. God created us, He knows us, and He made us for His glory that we may be fulfilled. There is so much we all could do, so many amazing and miraculous lives we all could lead but the sin of the world that we hang on to holds us down like a weight. In church the other day the message was about running, and after my first track season I can identify with it. When you are on the blocks and ready to sprint a 100m, you don’t want extra weight, the shoes we wear are basically slippers so our feet can be quick. When we lose the chains that hold us back from God and pursue a life worth living that is where we experience real joy. When we leave Him to pursue something that is wrong and ungodly we leave our true fulfillment and joy behind. It’s never a question as to whether or not a life lived for God is worth it, it’s if we are willing or not to pursue it.

Red Sox Updates

Here are my thoughts on the Sox, I think the best sentence to sum up the season thus far is this; the Red Sox are an average –good team playing way under their capability. I’ve found and seen that victory doesn’t always go to those who are the best, but to those who want it more. Honestly (and this sounds stupid) I don’t think the Red Sox really want to win. I think they are going out and playing, sometimes well, but they aren’t putting the effort that we Boston fans are used to seeing, the struggle that keeps you on the edge of the seat, the kind of game that is never over until the last out. I haven’t seen that, there was a glimpse of it in the Angels series, but when they played the Yankees I saw a tired, beat team that just gave up. The physical reasons (meaning not mental) are that they have 1/3 of the starting outfield, the pitching is off, and Beltre makes Lowell look better every day, but when Ellsbury and Cameron come back, the heart has to come back too. It’s said that every Red Sox game is like a playoff game, but why do they act like it is Spring Training? Aside from the Sox, my season starts soon so I’ll put my new swing to the test and write some more hitting notes.

Red Sox updates

In light of last night’s loss and the passing of April, here are my thoughts in the state of the Red Sox. As it stands the Red Sox are 11-12, they lost 5-4 last night and are counting on Dice-K (first start of 2010) and Beckett for the series win. Last year or two years ago that would sound pretty good right? In the winter having Lackey in the rotation sounded good right. How about having Beltre at third and the solid bullpen back for another year? Something is amiss, and the simplest way to put it is that the Red Sox are not playing good baseball. It’s as simple as that, they are not playing well, their fundamentals are off, what it takes to win consistently they don’t have. Are they bad? No, but they’re not very good at the moment. The supposed great defense is lackluster, the offense is shut down by medium to good pitching, and the pitching (both starting and relief) leaves much to be desired. 11-12 is okay, but how about 82-80? I hope that May will be a better month, that the team will come together, the defense will pick up the pace and the starters will shut down opposing offense like we were told they would – I hope.