Happy Halloween!

Sports Update

I’m trying to stay quiet to minimize the risk of jinxing the series but I can’t contain myself, Pedro was great! Yes I know the Phillies lost 3-1, but here is a 38 year old guy who wasn’t even pitching in the majors this year and here he is back in Yankee stadium. As for who’s whose daddy, let’s see 6 innings of work, 3 earned runs (one of which was the cheapest homerun ever), and 8 strikeouts. Gee I wonder what the answer is. Hopefully the Phillies can come back to win. Also this year I am determined to watch more Celtics games. Last year was such a painful off-season; I need something to watch so I’ll be more involved with the Celtics, even though I don’t know the first thing about Basketball. Also, my second full year of baseball has ended and here I am left to mull over my successes and failures so I’ll be posting a lot on hitting and mindset/philosophy of baseball.

The Good Kind of Burn

If there is one thing I can walk away with from the past few months, it is that God tests us. God is always testing us, not in a mean way, as if He were trying to stump us. No, God tests us to make us better and in turn more like Him. In my ceramics class, after we fire the clay we glaze it and fire it again at a hotter temperature. The glaze is pretty unimpressive at first, usually it bears little resemblance to the actual color and it’s very dull. But after going through the kiln the color explodes out and becomes bright and shiny and smooth, it is after the second firing the clay truly becomes a work of art. It is similar with us, throughout our lives God is constantly putting us through that second firing, where we transform from a dull caricature to a true masterpiece. Now what if the glaze turned and said “Whoa wait a minute, you’re going to put me through that? Now way Jose, I’m just fine the way I am.” Imagine looking at clay pots covered in a powdery dull paint, having no idea they could be vibrant pieces of art. In our struggles God puts us through a fire to transform us into His own masterpieces; it’s up to us to either follow and let Him or settle for dullness. “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.” Romans 5: 3-4.

Clarification

I was talking with my dad and I feel I need to clarify my last post. My dad raised a good objection to what I wrote. He said “Tay Tay, the greatest people I know are those who are close to God and know Him, also what about witnessing, the disciples knew Jesus was God and they didn’t sit around doing nothing. Also if you knew for sure God existed wouldn’t you devote your life to telling people?” That is true, if Marty looked around and saw Sox fans despairing then he would certainly tell people, just like if I knew the Cubs would win next year I would tell people (sorry I couldn’t help it). My point though is that the Sox series in 2004 is a picture of faith and the way God works. First off, after 86 years and down 3-0 it didn’t look good, it looked like number 87 until the game turned around. To say the Sox would win would have been illogical but also hopeful. It is that hope that I see as a picture of faith. I used to want God to perform a miracle, to do something. After I got the call from my boss to catch at Fenway I thought I was dreaming and actually checked the website to confirm there was a “Fenway Fantasy Day”. Sounds silly but it’s true. Imagine if God preformed a miracle for me, could I not go and say ‘Oh silly me I must have been dreaming, oh no wait I ate chicken for lunch and I know what that does to me” (chicken actually does nothing to me). I guess my main point is this, if there were a “God proof” meaning I could say A=B, B=C, A=C, and that was it then where would there be the hope, the credibility? It means nothing for me to say I believe the sun rose today, it takes faith to say I believe it will rise tomorrow. My last point, knowledge is a lot different than faith, the disciples saw Jesus, the Pharisees saw Jesus, they both saw the same guy do the same things but the disciples (while backed up with knowledge) put their faith in Jesus, the Pharisees (while backed with the same exact knowledge) refused to put their faith in Jesus. While facts and formulas and certainty are good, when a new believer comes to faith it really boils down to the power of God in his life, and his own decision to believe.

Watching with Anticipation

Faith is a lot like baseball. I was thinking about faith after finished “Faith and Doubt” by John Ortberg and I thought about the movie “Back to the Future II”. In the movie Marty and Doc. travel to the year 2015 and while there Marty buys a sports almanac book. So, you could conclude that Marty would know who won the World Series in 2004. In today’s society we like to have certainty, I often get shot down for my beliefs because I “can’t prove it”. In 2004 the Sox were down 3-0 to the Yankees, 86 long years looked like it was about to turn into 87 when something amazing happened, the Red Sox went on to win not only the next 4 to beat the Yankees they also won 4 after that to sweep the Cardinals. While Red Sox fans sat with anticipation, having faith that despite the odds the Sox could win, Marty already knew. Ever watch a replay of a game when you already know the score? I always stop when my team scores all the runs that it will, I know the outcome so why bother? It’s like that in life. We don’t know the outcome, things look bad, we can be down 3-0, but we don’t know the end of the story. Imagine if we knew for sure that God existed, I mean 100% knowledge no doubt whatsoever. Well, what would the point of life be, I mean if what’s the point of living down here if for 70 years (give or take) if all we are doing is waiting to go to Heaven? I’m not saying doubt is exciting, it can be downright terrifying, but without faith life and even worship becomes meaningless. Anyone can watch 9 innings when they know their team will win in the end, it takes faith and trust to watch 9 innings where the ending is unknown.

Even More Thoughts on Faith and Doubt

I have just finished reading this book called “Faith and Doubt” by John Ortberg. It was pretty interesting, but I have to say I walked away from it getting something different than I originally sought. My main thought is this, in faith we need doubt because without doubt there is no faith, I also found through my own experience there is no “God proof” or certainty. I’m going to write a few posts on my thoughts on faith and doubt. I was tempted to say “last thoughts” as if I were “safe” or out of the dangers of doubt now that my faith is more secure, but one thing I’ve realized is that this faith struggle wasn’t a disease that has a beginning and end, it’s not like I “cracked the code”, it’s just another leg in the journey that brings me closer to God.

Good Trades

Imagine if you could have anything in the world. What’s the catch? Oh well…you can only have it for a thousand days, but think one thousand days that’s like 2 years and 8 months (yes I actually did the math out). Well I know what I would want, maybe I would be a really good baseball player and play for the Red Sox, or maybe own a nice Italian restaurant… Well the Psalmist who wrote Psalm 84 had the same idea, but it was a little different. Verse 10 says “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere”. Wow. James writes that faith is shown in our actions and deeds (for more check out James ch.1-3), and this Psalmist definitely expresses his love for God enough to give up a thousand days anywhere he could desire for one day in the courts of God. I wrote earlier about poor trades and Felix was definitely bad at trading, he couldn’t see that to spend even one second in the glory of God is just indescribably amazing. While we won’t get this chance to trade in 2 years for one day in the presence of God we can trade in what gets in our way of God. For example baseball (yes I said it) can definitely get in the way so sometimes I need to tone it down a bit and put God first. While it is never easy it is definitely 200% worth it (number intended).