Personal Testimony to Baseball Turmoil

 Recently, the original organization I was going to join up with and I split ways.  I'm not writing this blog post to recount the events in which that all occurred, but to share with you how God is presently at work through all of this.  The cutting of ties with that organization and the feelings I felt at are certainly important, but their importance is resigned to the fact that because of them, the absolute devestation that seemed invevitable, are proving to be the source of another one of God's unpredictable and astonishing way of working in my life as well as every life of my teams and their families.

I have shared with my Bible study that I am leaving for Arizona tomorrow night to have surgery on Tuesday and I got an email tonight from on of my friends in it.  They know I coach baseball and I have shared with them my request to pray for the team and I  every week it seems before the split ever happened.  He wrote tonight to tell me that the group was praying for me.  I was planning on writing back a short thank you, but instead I shared with him what I can attest to being God's work in the team and I's lives.

Thank You Brother.

Your words mean a lot to me and I'm blessed to have so many people praying for us!  I'm sorry I wasn't there Wednesday and hope y'all still were able to make it without me - ha!  Thank you for your prayers for my baseball team as well.  I'll tell you more about it when I see you again but in short, I am no longer with the organization I had expecting to be joining.  This is with complete support of every parent and baseball associate from my two teams.  It was an unexpected and very unfortunate turn of events that came with what seemed to be devastating consequences to me, my teams and my players.

I am going to be completely honest with anyone that asks... God is taking care of us!  The 14U team will no longer be playing together and being this late in the game with tryouts for all organizations almost over, I was fearful that these amazing young men would have a hard time finding a team that they could continue to develop with, that suited their skill levels and actually cared about them.  God has found them all (but one) a team.  The one kid who doesn't, I'm confident will have a team yet will next weekend when he's back in town from boy scouts.

The 11U team was in the same boat but not to as great an extent.  Returning from my original team will be my two best players.  The talent level aside, those two kids also have exceptional parents and families that I have wonderful relationships with.  Two is not an insignificant number, because really only five were going to move on to a more competitive schedule and commitment which was the direction I was planning on taking my teams.  I was only going into the spring season with the expectation of keeping only four players.  When the kids are this age, I would say this is generally the case when making a decision whether they really want to pursue playing a sport or if they just want to play rec.

The 11U team is already at 8 and from meeting with and evaluating the players (and parents) coming to the team, we actually have a really strong bunch!  The parents I have met aren't crazy and are so supportive!  The kids are talented and I see a lot of potential in them.  They are just the kind of kids I want to coach - good kids and good players.

God has blessed us and is working His plan throughout all of this.  Yes, it hurt a ton but I already see Him at work.  The 14U team and I had developed a very special relationship and established almost a family-like culture.  Since the move away from the organization, it has only gotten stronger.  I can't wait to see the kids continue playing baseball and to see them around.  I was with a couple 11U's yesterday and saw the 14U's fishing at the same park.  One by one they showed up.  I didn't realize it until after practice, but every single one of the core members of that team were there!  It was a very heartfelt moment for me and I still feel the happiness I got from seeing them all together still.  We all had burgers tonight before my trip which they organized.

God is doing amazing things in my life and I know He is as well in the rest of the Dallas Shooters' lives.

Thank you for your prayers and I can't wait to see you guys again!

- Rob

God, Today Please Remind Me That You Love Me

Saturday, January 7, 2012 - 6:00PM CT

This morning I prayed for God to remind me that he loves me.  I don't think I asked how much.

I woke up around 8 this morning, which is early for me by the way, to get ready for a coaches meeting I had to be at at 9.  After showering and getting out the door I headed to Brookhaven Country Club.  On my was there is when I am pretty sure I prayed the prayer, "Lord, please today show me, remind me that you love me."  My mom had had a meeting a couple of days before with our pastor at PCBC about wanting to rejoin the church.  He told her he prayed a similar prayer every day.  Finally today I prayed it.

I got lost on my way to the country club and was actually a couple minutes late.  I was so worried about making a bad impression with one of the dads that was going to be there as well.  I got there finally and he couldn't have been more awesome about it.  I had met him once before and he was a super nice guy to begin with.  The meeting went great and I got out of there in time to just barely make it to my 11am shift at the restraunt I work at.

The restraunt was very stressful today with some of my coworkers not being in good moods.  I went abou my business but still complained aloud to other coworkers and mentally in my head.  Just not the best day at work although all the customers I had were actually very pleasant and I was happy to serve them.  That made the shift not as bad as I was trying to make it seem.  During that shift when things weren't so bright I prayed the prayer again knowing that I was stressing out about things too much.  "Lord, please remind me today that you love me."

When I got off work I went home to meet my friend about looking at apartments.  My mom, also being our realtor, my friend and I went downtown to look at some places.  It was a good experience and we got a lot out of it as far as knowledge of what we were looking at.  It was cool with the three of us and happy we all got to go together.

When we got back home it was finally time to go see friends and relax for the night.  I headed to Tom Thumb to pick up some beer for me and my friend.  When I got back to the parking lot to head to my friend's new awesome apartment I sat there for a second.  I thought, "It doesn't seem like God answered y prayer today.  Did I miss something?"  So I prayed the prayer again sitting in the parking lot with the radio off.  I realized today wasn't even over and maybe there was something extraordinary he had in mind.  I prayed a third time, "Lord, please show me/remind me that you love me."

It was like I had a revelation.  What was I thinking!  God had been showing me all day how much he loved me.  When I say revelation, I mean that I can't even write down how many times throughout the day God HAD shown me.  It wasn't one or two things, it was continuous!  Sure, sin was still in my life and had invaded my day, but God revealed to me how much he loves me all the time.  The story of my day that I have written above does no justice for accounting for the love God revealed to me when I prayed for the for the third time in that parking lot.  I drove from Tom Thumb to Henderson Avenue dealing with some traffic with the radio off.  The love I recalled through the day kept being revealed to me one by one, one thing after the other.  I didn't get moved to tears but I got emotional and felt the Holy Spirit inside me more than I have felt in a while.  I had to write it down.  Now, I need to blog it.

On that drive to Henderson Avenue I felt God calling me to blog things like this.  I haven't written in a long time.  I realized that I have always felt a need to share God's love and still don't think I'm meant for the pulpit or anything.  I think though that God has a way, multiple ways, this being one, to use me to share his love.   I am still on my journey and will be for the rest of my life but if this is a step in the right direction then Praise Him!  All Glory to God in the Highest!