What if I don't make it?

…looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Heb. 12:2

This is my first time trying to blog through a book. I am going to blog through Willie Mays The life, The Legend by James Hirsch. This is based on the Prologue.

I have dyslexia. It has been a struggle for me all my life. I have fought it with a passion every step of the way. I have tried everything from hating it to embracing it to laughing at it. When I was in third grade Miss Summers volunteered to take me on as a project, to help me adjust to life with dyslexia. I fought that woman tooth and nail almost everyday. I hated being treated different.

Over the years since then I have tried not to let it discourage me, but I always have this daunting question in the back of my mind “What if I don’t make it?”

That was the question that Willie Mays said out loud the first time he was sitting in front of the owner of the Giants, Horace C. Stoneham. Horace responded with all the ilk of an owner and told Willie the mere fact that he was sitting in front of him meant that he had made it! Horace C. Stoneham didn’t make guesses at baseball, he knew through prolonged study and scouting that the question was already answered it was just a matter of how it was going to play out.

“What if I don’t make it?” It is a really fair question from Willie’s perspective. It is tough being the one who has to produce. I think it is a question that a lot of people ask themselves every single day.

What happens when we apply this question to our faith? Religion teaches us that this is the most important question. We need to ask ourselves this question daily, maybe several times a day, because in the end we really don’t know if we are going to make it or not. Jesus gets rid of this question, it is the beauty of the gospel. We don’t live with this question anymore. This question has been completely answered. He did it, we get it, game over.

Adults screw things up -- Chapter 1

Amazing piece of history, I never knew that Willie Mays grew up in Birmingham, Al. Birmingham is the largest state in Alabama. It was a major producer of iron and steel back in the day. It was actually from this industry that baseball grassroots efforts really took off. To combat unionization of its members companies would form baseball teams to build pride in the company. Get the people to fall in love with the company they will never think twice.

I was in a discussion with a friend about the difference in loyalty today versus yester year. Today commented my friend employees are all about themselves. They do what is right by the and there really is very little loyalty to the company itself. Yet, my friend remembered and worked in an era where everything was about the company. You take care of the company and the company will take care of you.

Willie used all of this to his advantage, not in an insidious way, but in such a manner as to live a life passionately pursuing joy. He truly enjoyed playing baseball. His father, Cat Mays, says that he never once was going to force baseball on his son. It was going to have to be his choice. By the way Willie’s father, Cat, was also an incredible baseball player who would earn money by selling himself to various company teams. It was from his father that he would learn the game of baseball.

I love reading the roots of people who are known for something beyond their roots. It really offers so much insight into why they do the little things that they do that make them great. When Willie was born the first thing the doctor said was, “Look at those hands.” (They were huge, it is said that he could hold five baseballs in his hand at once.)

What we root our lives in determines much of who we are and how we will go about handling whatever comes our way. This is why suffering is such a key element in knowing and understanding ourselves. Without suffering their can be no refinement, and according to Willie the best way to bring suffering into a situation is invite an adult.

This is so true. Nothing like our adult lives to really mess us up. Willie recalled that kids just wanted to play and the color didn’t matter, but for adults if they saw a racial mixed game they would call the cops. Incredible how we can get so messed up in our values and morals to believe that people of various colors can’t even play baseball together let alone be friends, date, or get married. How is it that adults with their increased wisdom with age get perpetually dumber as we go?

Don’t be one of those adults that screw everything up.