Pictures from Oregon

I Finally Figured It Out

My earlier post was about Dutch, this one is about baseball. A long time ago as a young kid I played baseball and gave it up, sure I would never return to the game again (cue dramatic music). A while ago I woke up and decided that I wanted to play baseball and thus my journey began. I never knew why God wanted me to play baseball or even what position, all I thought was that He wanted me to be good, really good. It sadly turned out that I was not really good, while this year I was pretty good (.381 avg., 2 HR 3 2B, 7RBI in 10 games), but as I was hitting in the batting cage today facing the prospect of trying out for a more competitive team next year and the hopes of college baseball in the near future I thought to myself why am I doing this? Will it matter in forty years if I made a college team and was a star, especially since it would take a lot of work, but I thought what if I worked out a ton and hit at the cage and put the setting on the machine all the way up to 80mph and hit halfway down the tunnel so it’s really like 90mph, then I…, in the end is it worth the effort? I decided today that it is not, I love to play baseball and will continue until my limitations, well, limit me. Then what was the point of playing!? I figured this out, I prayed earnestly to become a better baseball player and I am one, I’m actually pretty good, but God did not make me a better player, He wasn’t at bat when I hit my homeruns, what He did was give me the strength and perseverance to keep trying, to keep working. When everyone said I would fail God told me I would succeed, He lifted me up when I was down and that was what really made me a better player, how else could I hit for an hour (700 swings) twice a week for a month? It is this perseverance that God gave me, this “never give up” attitude that will serve me well later in life when I face greater troubles. That, I believe, is why God gave me the desire to play baseball, to learn to persevere, and hold on and never give up.

Faith and Prayer

This is going to be one of two posts on prayer and faith, both are connected but different in a way. I’ve been thinking a lot about prayer, I used to view prayer as a combination of two things, one where I ask God for things He can either do for me or give me, and two I basically talk. Over the past few weeks, and I guess you could say months my view has changed and here are two factors in this change. A while ago I had a dog named Daisy, she was a sweet, beautiful dog, no other dog can compare to her, she loved to paw us when she wanted something, she would eat food off of the counter, she sat on the furniture, she never left your side, and she never, ever got mad at anyone. But in 2006 something very sad happened, she died of cancer, a battle she faced all her life. While we had Daisy we also had Dutch or first dog, he is great too, when he was younger he would play with us but now serves as our protector. But then near the start of the summer he got cancer. I prayed a lot for Daisy and seemingly nothing ever happened, sadly I did not pray as earnestly for Dutch, I admit I thought nothing would happen to him either, I went to Oregon for a week and we were planning to put him down before we left, then it would be just us an Rosy. But then a miracle happened, a family friend took him in, they loved him and kept him alive so that he is here with us today as I write this post and will hopefully be with us until his 8th birthday on August 8th. The fact is that I did pray and God answered my prayers and I thought to myself, it doesn’t matter whether I pray 1 time or 100 times, I had the faith to pray and to call on to God for help and He didn’t disappoint. I felt foolish because I thought I had lost faith and while I did not approach Dutch’s illness with the certainty I had shown during Daisy’s sickness, he is still with us and that is all that really matters, perhaps next time I get an opportunity to pray for someone or something I will be if not more certain, I will be more faithful.

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.