Limit or Liberate?

I recently commented on a comment left by someone that my favorite Psalm is Psalm 119, so I have decided to blog about it as to why. Psalm 119 is very long, it is 176 verses so I cannot write one post about all the parts that I like (I could but then few would read the whole thing) so I will write a few, maybe more, posts about verses that I feel are key to the overall message. Psalm 119 is a picture of faith; it describes a young man’s desire to be a godly person and passion for God’s word. A lot of people see God’s law something that limits our lives, something that takes all the fun away, but in reality it frees us. When we are bound by sin we are trapped but God’s law breaks those chains and allows us to enjoy life to the fullest; ever notice that you feel better after helping someone out or being generous? The Psalmist takes the latter view, in verse 9 he writes “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to Your word.” In verse 11 he writes “I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against you”. In verse 105 he writes “Your word is a lamp to my feet, a light to my path.” We could all probably lead perfectly okay lives without God’s law, but that’s the thing they would only be “okay” there comes a point when good just isn’t good enough and that is where we need God, that is where we need to read, understand, and live out His word. Life without God is bleak and you can’t have Him without His law, if we want to follow Him and be close to Him, as the psalmist does, we need to follow his law and read His word. Some say God’s law limits our lives, but I say it liberates them and brings us into the light so that we may truly live and enjoy our lives.

The Amazing World We Live In

I’m not a fan of the whole “logical proof for God” because no amount of logic or factual evidence can replace faith and trust. That aside here are a few thoughts I had on the amazing complexity of our world. In physics there are these constants that factor into equations that can be used in a variety of ways to describe the motion of planets, electricity, and the theory of relativity. If one of these constants were changed to 1% yes that is one percent, the universe would be inhabitable. If just one were changed the slightest bit life would not exist, not even as we know it, it just would not be possible to survive anywhere. Think about the odds, it would be like me trying to type a post by tapping random keys hoping it would be coherent writing, by chance a few words would appear but certainly not what I would want to say.

Hitting Tips

So far this year I’ve been hitting .470, that’s a long way from the consistent .200 average I’ve had over the last two years of playing baseball. So, how did I go from a .200 hitter at the end of the lineup to hitting 3rd or higher? Here are some hitting tips that I used to help. First off I worked a lot on my hitting by exercising and frequenting the batting cage but the most influential thing I did was read Ted Williams’ book The Science of Hitting some people say its outdated, their wrong, it is probably one of the best books to read on hitting a baseball, Ted covers the basics and the essentials in a baseball swing and breaks it down to the minute details. Another good book is Charlie Lau’s The Art of Hitting .300, it’s very detailed and has a lot of pictures to aide visualization of a good swing. Another thing I did and this takes from Ted’s tips on hitting, is look at the pitcher before my at bats. I generally watch the pitcher from the bench but when I’m in the hole I get up and stand right behind the backstop and watch him throw to see where his pitches are going, where his release point is, what the ump’s strike zone looks like, and what he’s got for that particular day, standing in the on deck circle is an invaluable time to check out the pitcher that I feel not enough people take advantage of. Third, I prolong the at bat as long as possible. This is not to say that I get up there and aim for a long at bat, it could be a very quick at bat, but what I try to do is stay in the game while I’m at the plate and not let the at bat get away from me. For example I once struck out on three pitches, it was a quick at bat not just because it lasted three pitches, but mentally I was not in the game I was not fully focused and not thinking, I just took a few hacks and left. A good at bat, I would think, is one where the batter is in control, not the pitcher, where he gets into a deep count, say 2-2 or 3-2, and fouls a few off and is prepared for what’s coming; let’s say the pitcher likes to throw a changeup in a 2 strike count, if I were thinking properly I would look for it and if I know I can’t hit his changeup I would try to get a piece. My last piece of advice is this, swing at strikes. It sounds simple but it isn’t, it’s hard to learn the strike zone and also yourself well enough to know when to hold up. I see a lot of people swing at high pitches, the high fastball looks so good because it’s right at your eye level, you see it the best, but you can never hit it, I always remind myself it’s up there for a reason leave it there

I've Got Good News and Bad News

There are few things that I really dislike and here is one of them, bad news. I hate it when I’m having a good day and I get a piece of bad news, it just deflates everything, it turns a great day into a bad day or at best and okay day. I was reading from the Psalms the other day and came across Psalm 112. The thing I love about the Psalms, which will have to be another blog post, is that they are honest, they are quiet reflections and prayers of those who wrote them. Some are bitter, some are resentful, some are joyful, and others paint a picture of what being close to God looks like. Psalm 112 is a promise of God’s faithfulness to the righteous and a reminder that He is always there. One verse that struck me was verse 6-7, “Surely he will never be shaken; a righteous man will be remembered forever. He will have no fear of bad news his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.” We get all kinds of news in our lives, whether it is from the papers, the internet, or from friends, some can be good but to me it seems that a lot of the news we get is bad. Turn on the T.V. and almost always there is some disaster happening somewhere. But here is the thing, we don’t need to be afraid, we don’t need to worry because if something goes wrong God is there and we need to trust in Him to help. Things go wrong in life, the world is not a perfect place, but we don’t need to worry because when we trust in God our security is in Him and not in this world. I don’t like bad news, but really there isn’t much reason to be afraid of it because I know that ultimately God is in control and that nothing happens that He doesn’t see.

Miracles

It took me a while to start posting in June, but here it is. Early this week versus the Phillies a certain player stood up to bat and hit a grand slam for his first major league at bat, that player was Daniel Nava. Nava had a tough time getting to the big leagues, all his life he was told he was too small, too weak, too slow, the list goes on and on, but Nava never listened and instead took what people said about him and decided to prove them wrong. He was signed off of an amateur league by the Sox for one dollar (no kidding) to see if he would last through Spring Training, well he did. Nava didn’t let people tell him who he was and what he could do, people said he was nothing he knew he was something. I’d say that the most important player in this story is God. Philippians 4:8 says “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Nava never gave up and he never gave in, I read that he plays the electric guitar in a church band and that a recent commenter (commentator?) posted that he was very strong in his faith, so I can bet that he sought strength and persistence from God before anything else. In a story that is so perfect, so Disney, you can only point to it and say “miracle” because that is the only way to describe it.

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?