MLB

It’s your duty to vote! Marc Ecko the buyer of the Barry Bonds record breaking home run ball has setup a website to determine the fate of the historic ball.

Here are your choices:

1) Send it to the Hall of Fame “as is.”

2) Sent it to Cooperstown with an “*”  branded to the ball as a reminder of the steroid era.

3) Banish it into space.

 Go here to vote.

This is truly amazing [compliments of MudPuppy]. It’s a geographical map of baseball teams and their fan base. Enjoy. The pic can be found here.

I love baseball and Barry Bonds makes me sick. There is so much in baseball that is dishonest and has nothing to do with the game. Barry has brought shame to the game, but he’s not the only one.  He’s just the only one relishing in a glory that is not his. But how many of us do this – relish in glory that’s not ours?

Last week, when I was speaking to a group of youth at a camp about evangelism I asked, “how many of you here have saved someone.” Most raised their hands. Then I quickly retorted, “Christ is the only one that saves, not us.” We don’t save people. We can’t. We’re called to share the good news and be a ready instrument of God, but we will never saved anyone. We never will.

Knowing that Christ is the Savior and not us is a humbling thought. How often do we relish in an event when kids are saved or the Lord really moves, as if we had something to do with it? I used to be concerned with numbers when I was a youth pastor and worked for a church that worshiped numbers. Then I began to realize that it doesn’t matter. Nothing in this world will stand. The only thing that lasting is Christ’s work within us. Is what Barry has done an accomplishment? Not really. He hit the home run, then marched around the bases and then when he stepped on home plate he pointed to heaven as if to thank God [for giving him BALCO]. It’s just amazing how we celebrate nothingness in name of God.

John the Baptist (and yes I believe he was a dirty baptist) said it best, “he [Christ] must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).  So where in our lives do we need to decrease so God can do his lasting work? I’m just amazed, excited and humbled that in light of this that He still takes me along for the ride.

I love baseball. Each spring I wait for this. And this spring I really, really love baseball – because my team is winning! That’s what it’s all about – the hope of next season.

All last year watching the Atlanta Braves I was waiting for the season to end (it was awful!) hoping for a fresh start. We’ve had such a fresh start so far. The Braves are 8 and 3 and sitting in first place. I know it’s early, but back off! Let me savor it for as long at it lasts.

Watching games is such a family event around here. Sure we’ll watch other sports, but baseball is a journey that we can’t wait to start each April. We watched the game today and then James and I practiced hitting this afternoon in the yard. Spring comes and so does baseball. It doesn’t get any better than this!

Anyone else excited baseball is back?

[And no, I can't bring myself to become a Seattle Mariners fan. I'm a southern boy at heart and I don't believe in the American League. It's just plain wrong. The DH is a sin! Once you've gone to a World Series game with your team - they're your team for life!]

I’ll admit it. I was down right giddy after hearing that Mark McGwire had been denied entrance to the baseball Hall of Fame. I hate steroids and what they’ve done to the game I love. Believe it or not McGwire took ’em, so did Barry. 

But in my smugness, I was reminded that like McGwire we’re all not going to get voted into Heaven’s Hall of Fame. We’re not even supposed to be invited. We’ve all sinned and if I choose to point the finger at Big Mac, I really need to point it back at myself. Sin is sin and I’m no better.

Thankfully we have a Savior that helps us bypass the vote and go straight in. Left to my own means I’m only worthy of hell. Thank you Lord for sending us your Son! We are all unworthy, but thank you for His free gift of new life! 

Okay as a perennial Braves fan, I have made one cardinal sin. I’m still a fan of Tom Glavine, the long hated pitcher who left the Braves for the dreaded N.Y. Mets. But hey, I’m sorry to say I’m a Glavine fan! I’ve got his rookie cards and a signed baseball. I’m actually pulling for the Mets in the playoffs when Glavine is pitching (so every few games, I’m a Met fan). That’s right baby. Game two  of the playoffs (6 scoreless innings) and Game one of the NLCS (7 scorless)! I secretly believe that he’s wearing a Braves uniform under his Met one – that’s how I sleep at night.

I read a recent article on what defines a clutch player, it’s argued that Glavine may be Mr. Clutch when it comes to pitching in the playoffs. Read it here.  

So…. GO METS (ever 4th game!)

It’s always amazing to see parallels in your life. For me, it seems that my life has been inexplicably connected to Braves outfielder Jeff Francoeur’s batting average.

Francoeur has a special place with our family. A rookie last year, he quickly became James’ (my 4 yr old son) favorite player. It’s either because he swung an amazing bat or simply because James likes to say Francoeur because it sounds funny. So as the season started this year, we were all excited to see this young kid continue to surge.

But then it happened, or shall I say nothing happened. Frenchy (as the fans call him) couldn’t hit anything. He was carrying a .80 average for a while and leading the league in strike outs. Simply put, the guy was struggling.

And for some reason, watching this guy try so hard and always come up empty seemed to get to us. It almost seemed like his slump was mirroring our lives. We had been hit with sickness, frustration, and a loss of focus. My family was struggling too.

We’d come back, ready to watch each game. Ready to have hope that Frenchy could do it. We wanted to see him succeed.

But hey look! Over the last two weeks, he’s been surging. He’s up to .231 and the swing seems to be back. Things seem to be getting better for us as well.

Hope fufilled is a wonderful thing. Go Frenchy, go!