Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Final thoughts

As I'm on the flight back home to Detroit, I have plenty of time to think about what has happened in the last month. First off, I want to thank my amazing support group. After being accepted to the team I was scared about how I'd raise the money I needed. I was incredibly blessed and overjoyed with the amount of love and grace I received from different family and friends. This experience wouldn't have been possible without you, so thank you from the bottom of my heart. Not only do I want to thank the people who supported me financially, I want to thank all the people who prayed for me or the people who looked forward to reading the posts I made. I can't wait to be home talking to everyone about how awesome the trip was. If anybody has any questions you can ask me on Facebook or in person, whatever works. I'd love to chat about anything, so don't hesitate to ask!



Secondly, I want to thank all my teammates and coaches for the impact they had on me. Our three coaches, JMac, JD, and Mike lead our team to great success on and off the field. They built us up spiritually off the field and helped bring out our best on the field every game. Whether our struggle was field conditions, sickness, or heat they did a great job leading us. I had a lot of fun getting to know each of them and watching how Godly men can lead in the baseball world. Not only did the coaches teach me how Godly men should look in the sport, a lot of teammates did too. Being surrounded by such a great group of guys for a month was another big blessing. I still can't believe how, over 4 short weeks, this group bonded so well. The team chemistry we had was definitely something special that I'll never forget. Each guy brought something to the table. I'm so thankful for getting to meet and connect with all the guys over the past month. I can't wait to see how our relationships grow in the future and how each of us will make an impact in our area of the states.



Lastly, I thought that writing this blog would be harder than it ended up being. I pictured myself posting a few photos and stats from each game at the beginning. The more experiences I had, the easier it was to forget about myself and write about how God was working through me and my team. I felt called to forget about the stats and the baseball and write about what the trip was really about, serving God. Everybody who's reading knows how important baseball is in my life, that's for sure. I'd have to admit that baseball might have been more important to me than it should have been. It's something I will still struggle with going forward, too. That being said, a few different moments on the trip helped me understand what priorities should really look like. One situation in particular hit me hard in our last game. I was having a bad day at the plate, probably my worst performance in a single game this summer. I wasn't happy with myself at all during and after the game. When we sat down to share a testimony and gospel message I quickly realized that I had it all wrong. My best buddy on the team Jonny had just finished what would be his last true baseball game. I saw him struggling across the field and thought to myself. After the message, I went over and embraced Jonny with a hug I'll remember for a long time. I know that whenever my last game comes, I'll be a mess. I can't imagine a life without playing baseball. But what's more important than that is that no matter when baseball ends, there will always be a bigger picture. That moment with Jonny made me realize that the game we just played wasn't about me. That trip wasn't about me. This life isn't even about me. It's about God. 

Thank you all for reading!
¡Dios te bendiga!