Thursday, October 23, 2008




Let’s Go Rays!

Here is a team that is:

Playing with a history of multiple failures
Playing in a stadium they don’t want
For some of them, playing for team they did not want to play for
Playing in a division they would not have chosen
At times, playing before a slim crowd in comparison to others
Playing for a manager that’s never managed before
Playing for a team salary that is among the lowest in the league
Playing as one of the youngest teams in the league
Playing with a pitching staff with very little major league experience
Playing with most of the baseball world believing they could not make it this far
Playing knowing they have never won more than 70 games in a season
Playing knowing they have never played in a postseason game
Playing knowing their opponents have in their history won the world series
Playing knowing last season they were the worst team in the league
Playing knowing they have been in last place in nine out of ten seasons of their existence

…and the list goes on…

However, they are playing in the world series of baseball… America seems to have jumped on the Rays wagon… I have been riding the Rays wagon for almost 10 years now…Let’s Go Rays!

What causes a team or individuals to do the seemingly impossible? What causes them to rise above all the challenges of their present and historical circumstances? What causes them to believe what no one else can?

It might be summed up in the Ray’s manager, Joe Maddon’s response to the question, if you could sum up in one word what would describe this team after winning game seven of the American League Championship Series and earning the opportunity to play in the World Series, he said, “Heart!”

It sounds like the Rays may have had heart surgery. They did take on a whole new image.

Hearts can be deceitful, hard, broken, empty, set in its ways…

That’s why I am glad God says in his word, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26)

God wants us to have a new heart. With so much history and influence in our lives over time, a new heart is all that will work – the old one is just not repairable. The new heart is just that, new. It’s a heart of flesh. It is something God can work with.

I say, give me a new heart Lord! Work with, in and through me. Have a blessed day!

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