Something Special

So tonight, with a slight headache and after being annoyed that ESPN chooses to place an HOUR of coverage before the actual home run derby starts, I settled in to watch the Home Run Derby, like a good chunk of the rest of America. The first round proceeded without much fanfare, Lance Berkman hitting a respectable eight homeruns, looking like he was positioning himself for a run at the title, poor Evan Longoria being intimidated by Yankee Stadium. Then this curly headed North Carolinian steps up to the plate with a bat, a smile, and a 71 year old pitcher who used to throw him toss when he was a boy, and then something special happened.

He started to hit. Then he hit some more. Then he hit a 518 foot home run. At that point, fans at Yankee Stadium were chanting his name. For those who lack the understand of what this means, Yankee fans barely cheer the names of Yankees, let alone someone else from the same league. Josh Hamilton, for those of you who don’t know his story, is lucky to be alive, let alone smashing 13 in a row at Yankee Stadium. See about three years ago, he was collapsed on the floor of a trailer with cracked lips and burnt fingers from the crack pipe he was using. The man was addicted to heroin and cocaine, along with alcohol to round of the mix.

Then, just like tonight, something special happened. This guy named Jesus, whom you may have heard me mention once or twice, found him, pulled him up from the mud and the addiction, and helped him get clean. For four years because of his addiction he didn’t play baseball at all. Didn’t even train. But he pulled his life back together, thanks to the power of the grace and redemption and the hope of Jesus Christ. He had a dream too, around 2006 that he would be hitting in the home run derby in Yankee Stadium.

Did I mention that this dream occured while he was still banned under the MLBs drug policy? That the All-Star Game hadn’t even been placed at Yankee Stadium yet? Such is the power of our God and Savior. One of the reporters asked him about that dream, to which he responded, “Well in the dream, I didn’t know how many I was going to hit.”

Some people have criticized ESPN for the fact that they practically ignored the eventual winner, Justin Morneau. There is some ground for such criticism. But Tonight, that doesn’t matter because in truth we all came away winners tonight.

Because we all got to witness something special.

~ by Mark on July 15, 2008.