Hitting

ByHal Hammons

Pete Rose is a poor excuse for a human being on multiple levels, but there’s no doubt he is an expert in the science of hitting a baseball.  I saw a fascinating conversation between him, Frank Thomas and Alex Rodriguez the other day.  The three of them together have about 10,000 major league hits more than I do, and I’m always in favor of listening to experts.

Rose, who has more hits than anyone who has ever played, took the lead.  His biggest piece of advice for major league hitters who are struggling: don’t change your swing.  “Your swing got you to the big leagues,” he said.  Move up in the batter’s box, or move back.  Crowd the plate more, or back off.  Move your hands up or down on the bat.  The pitchers are adjusting to you, so adjust back.  But don’t change who you are.

Great advice for hitting, and for Christian living as well. 

The fundamental aspect of the Christian life is faith.  Faith got us to Jesus.  But we can apply that faith in different ways as life throws us curveballs.  (See what I did there?)  Is your regular prayer routine becoming stale and uninspiring?  Change it.  Alter the frequency, the specificity, the tone.  Is your Bible study stagnant?  Change it.  Study different topics, different books, study with a partner.

But don’t give up on prayer.  Don’t give up on study.  And by all means, don’t give up on faith.

There will be days when faith in God seems misplaced, when you contemplate restructuring your entire life.  But that is just the world trying to get you down.  Remember 1 John 5:4 — “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith.” 

Keep swinging.  The hits will come.

Similar Posts

College

ByHal Hammons

We ship Kylie back to college this week.  It’s sad on multiple levels.  But it is part of the process of watching a young person grow up.  On the whole, it would be much, much sadder if it didn’t happen.  If I tell Tracie that enough times, maybe she will start to believe me.

Flossing

ByHal Hammons

I hope Dr. Naumann, my childhood dentist, is reading this somewhere.  For the first time … ever, probably, I purchased dental floss.  And I am actually using it.  On my teeth.  I’m not consistent, but I do it.  In fact, I have fibers of mango wedged between my lower incisors right now, and I can’t wait to get home and dig for them.

Polling

ByHal Hammons

The famous Gallup polling company recently did some research as to why people attend church assemblies.  The biggest two reasons: sermons that teach about Scripture, and sermons that help relate Scripture to everyday life.  The smallest response came with regard to “a good choir, praise band, or other spiritual music.”  Interesting.

Weather

ByMark Watson

The forecast called for a 100 percent chance of weather, and as usual it was right on the money.  One day last week I drove through a steady display of what I have taken to calling “Florida rain,” a barrage of tiny droplets completely unlike anything we ever saw in Texas.  (Raindrops in Texas, on…

Little things

Little things

ByHal Hammons

Parents tend to judge their parenting based on “big things.” By “big things,” I mean major events and accomplishments — getting the child baptized, getting them through college, getting them married well, keeping them off drugs, etc. But it has been my experience that “little things,” daily spiritual maintenance and life guidance, tend very strongly to lead to the “big things.”

Bringing Down the Wall

ByHal Hammons

The Berlin Wall has now officially been down longer than it was up.  That’s astonishing.  I remember 1989 quite well.  The Cold War that had dominated my childhood was officially over.  The dreaded symbol of oppression had been toppled.  It was the end of an age.  For my entire life I had thought of geopolitics entirely in terms of the United States vs. the Soviet Union.  And suddenly, it wasn’t.  The tearing down of the wall was the biggest symbol of that transformation.