Home field advantage

My favorite thing about baseball comes down to this: home field advantage.

Why, you ask?  Well, to put it simply, no matter what happens in the top of the inning, the home team always has a chance to refute it in the bottom.  For every run that’s scored against you, you get to step up to the plate with the motivation to score a run and get that run back. 

I feel like God is my homefield advantage.  He tells us that he’ll never give us anything we can’t handle.  In that, I believe he always gives us a chance to step up to the plate, with runs scored against us, and gives us the ability to win.

We all have countless runs scored against us.  We don’t get the job, we don’t win the election, we don’t make the grades, we don’t get the guy.  Those are trivial compared to the grandslams the other team blows out of the park: losing a loved one, losing a friend, getting a diagnosis we hope we never have to hear, or a life changing injury. 

These things can make you feel like you are losing 10-0 with no chance of coming back. 

God, however, gives us a fantasy team full of MVP’s and homerun hitters.  He also makes sure we are playing the Tigers 🙂 (October 2009 anyone?) And to make it all better, He makes certain Joe Mauer always stays on our team.

I am grateful everyday that I have God on my side, and that He continutes to give me home field advantage.

In the last few months, I’ve had some tough innings.  I’ve had some days where I don’t feel like I have the energy to get back out there.  I’ve spent nights up late worrying about how things could possibly work out.  I’ve applied for countless jobs and visited countless homes that my family could rent when we move from my childhood home in a few weeks.  I’ve tried to help my brother make a life for himself and help to promote my dad’s business in hard economic times.  I’ve tried to pay my bills on time while doing what I can to deserve the help my parents have givin me.  I’ve tried to keep in touch with friends while realizing it only gets harder as everyone gets older.

You can’t help the curve balls life throws at you.  Sometimes, you are going to strike out.  Sometimes, the other team scores more runs in one inning that you do in 8.  In the end, though, the hometeam advantage gives you the opportunity to come back.  In my experience, a comeback always makes for a better game than an easy win.  So, no matter what life throws at you, step up to that batters box in the bottom of that inning and crush that struggle over the fence. 

Life won’t always turn out the way you expected, but you’ve always got the chance to turn it around.

*This post is dedicated to Major League Baseball- how I love thee!! Go twins!