The Best in the Game

Lately Ive been blogging about my time here in Europe. I was looking at Rangers stuff and this just kinda hit me so here it goes.......

Josh Hamilton is quite an amazing baseball player i think we all see this , he is an amazing person as well. What an amazing story he has , Growing up in North Carolina being a freaky athlete growing up , playing in 11 year old baseball leauges as a 7 year old!!! No.1 Overall Pick out of High School , Most People said would have been a first round pick as a pitcher if he would have came out as that. He was looked at as a future superstar and quite possibly a future transcendent baseball player. He could do it all , Run, Hit , Throw , Hit for Average and Power. He was without doubt what baseball people refer to as a 5 tool player.
Fast Forward a couple of years and he is quickly making his way up the minor leauge ranks then injury hits....... He falls into the pitfalls of drug and alcohol use. Goes in and out of rehab multiple times , is such an addict that he hawks his wife's wedding ring to get money to buy drugs!!!!! After Multiple years of living this way he rediscovers the Lord puts his life back together and gets to playing baseball again.
The Legend goes that he stepped out just to see if he could still play again and he completely Mashed or was hitting great. Had not touched a bat or played for over 3 years!!!

He gets back in the Majors has an ok year for the Cincinatti Reds but it gets cut short by injury. Then he is traded to the Texas Rangers.......
Being a lifelong Ranger fan and a sports geek , I knew a little about his story at least the drug side of it. I was completely unaware of his Faith though. How through shear faith in the Lord he rebuilt his life and himself , restored his relationships with family first and foremost and the Lord rewarded him by not taking away his baseball abilities.
Josh had an amazing first year here , was the media darling and the new superstar on the block. His second year injuries struck again , He had a hickup , he fell short one night and went out and had some drinks , We have all had these nights and we all sin , but his was magnified because of his status as athlete. In his third season here a new season brought new hope and kind of a chance at redemption once again.....
Josh has been nothing short of amazing this year again, Leading the Leauge in Several Categories , being close in others , playing great defense just being the superstar athlete he is. in my opinion (i admit it could be biased but i can make a pretty good case against anyone!) he is the best ALL Around player in the Game , he may not be the very best at any one thing , but His combination of Hitting both for Average and Power , his Ability to Play defense both with his Arm and the Ground he can Cover and He is a great baserunner also, always taking an extra base or getting a key steal. I think you would be hardpressed to find anyone person who has a better combination of skills than Josh.
Josh is a true testament of what can happen when giving your life truly and completely to the Lord , Sure the road may not be easy every day for the rest of your life , but if you trust in the Lord he will take care of you. I truly love the fact that a guy not just with that baseball ability but with that character and that faith plays for my Hometown Team. He is a truly a guy that realizes that he shouldnt be here but the only reason he is here is because the Lord wants him to be.
I think its really awesome to have the best player in the game on my favorite team. I think its even cooler to have such an Ambassador for Christ and what the Power of Christ can do playing for my favorite team!! Im proud to say that Josh Hamilton is without a doubt my favorite baseball player and someone i really hope to meet some day. Keep up the goodwork my man and I hope to be watching you in the stands in the playoffs in OCTOBER!!!!!!!!

Whats my mark?

Something i have been thinking about the last couple of days and I dont know why. If i was to die tommorrow , What Mark have i left on this world and the people i was around. I havent done anything great career wise , not married , dont have kids (im suddenly getting sad). Id like to think i have been a pretty decent son , and a decent brother and family member. Ive tried to be a good friend sometimes ive failed at that. The question still remains have i done anything to really leave a mark on this world? Ive recently begun reading a book called Do Something! and it tells storys about people leaving there marks. That may have been what sparked this thought process in my head.
When i think about this there is one area where i think my mark can be seriously made and i may have begun to do this already. That of course is Younglife.


This is where i feel like my mark is being made and can be made showing kids what took me 18 years to learn , that without Jesus in my life i am nothing. That is something that even though i accepted him when i was 18 dont know that i properly understood untill maybe just a couple of years ago. Younglife gives me such a sense of purpose and a sense i am doing what i am supposed to be doing. If you would have told me 4 years ago i would be dying to get done with christmas break so i could get back to spending my nights hanging out at high school sports or mondays at younglife i would have told you , you were crazy .I would have never though at 21-22 that when i was heading towards the age of 30 that my i would be trying to forge relationships with high schoool students. It's such a funny world in that way , we dont know when or where were gonna find our life's passion some people find at a young age some find it older. But when you find it you hold onto it and now i know i have found my where my mark is supposed to be made , Now its just a matter of figuring how to make it and making it as long lasting as possible.

Younglife

I started doing Younglife about 4 years ago. I agreed because a friend asked for my help. It took ohh about 1 month for that to change and me to get hooked into it. 4 years later its something that has replaced sports or anything else as the single greatest passion in my life. It is an amazing feeling to be apart of something that helps kids find the lord and feel the same love and joy that you feel . To feel that you even played a small role in that is an undescribable feeling. All years have been very awesome and a blast but this year were in right now has been a complete blessing we have grown pretty much double what we were last year which is totally amazing, and were lucky enough to have some kids that have been with us all 4 years. Its really cool to see kids that have been with us since the beginning wanting to help kids experience the same things they have experienced. We have some really great kids.Theyre in high school a really stressful time in life and all they want to do is help us with younglife.I look at some of these kids and am amazed at the relationship they have with the lord. I struggle with my relationship i have never been a guy big with prayer or reading my bible which is something im changing , i feel better about my day and more fulfilled when I start my day right. I am so thankful to my friend Erik for asking me to be apart of this , whether he saw it in me or just took a leap of faith either way he changed my life forever and for the good. I hope one day i can do that for someone as well. You know its funny if you would have asked me 4 years ago if I would be spending time hanging out with High School Kids i would have said youre crazy. If you would have told me I would be working with a ministry i would have said no, and now not only am i doing it but i feel like its supposed to be what i do with my life.