Straining Forward

As I am finding out, keeping up with fairly regular blog posts is harder than it seems. I have been thinking about what I could post about, but I have not been able to think of anything for days. That is until the other day when Daniel threw 5 innings (the whole game) against one of the best teams in the league and beat them. Now, for those of you who don't know when I say "threw" that means "pitched", and just to let you know Daniel is 10, and for a 10 year old to throw 5 innings is almost unheard of. I am a coach for his team so I was there when he got the last out and let me tell you, it was pandemonium at the ballpark. Now, let me also tell you something about what had to happen before he had the ability to throw 5 innings like he did.... Hours and hours of practice, physical conditioning, mechanical refinement, and repeatedly throwing the same way for hundreds of pitches. These are just a few of the physical things that any good baseball pitcher must do to be able to throw five innings at 10 years old. Here are a few of the mental things that Daniel had to have: commitment, hard work, desire, passion, mental toughness, and a "never give up" attitude are all needed to be able to perform like that. Daniel's performance was, in a word, amazing, but he knows that there are still areas where he needs work. The same holds true for Dewey, Owen, and myself. Even though we have good games and we perform well, we know that we can always get better and we must constantly be practicing to improve ourselves. All four of us play baseball with a passion, there is just something about us that just loves the game of baseball, and drives us to try and become the best ball players that we can be. Just FYI I did not write this post to brag us Nugent boys up. What I am writing this for is to show how playing COMPETITIVE sports is much like our walk with Christ. Our ultimate goal in life should be to glorify and honor God in all that we do and to treasure and grown in our love for Him throughout our lives. In baseball you compete against another team to win the game so that you can obtain the trophy, award, medal, or whatever is the prize for winning the game. Our walk with Christ is the same thing, Paul says in Philippians 3:14 "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Notice he says "press" like he is straining, it is sometimes like that in our christian walks. There are times when the trials of life seem to engulf us and we must "press on". The same thing holds true in baseball. There are times when it takes every bit of strength, determination, desire, and willpower to get through a game. We push ourselves through no matter what it takes, because we want what is waiting for us if we succeed. That object that we have been competing for. Well, we (as Christians) know what awaits us at the end of our race, we know what we are competing for. I just thought I would throw this out there as a little reminder/encouragement.