Hope for all ...Even New York Yankee fans

Millions of men and women love sports. In fact, many are obsessed with their favorite sports teams. I understand this because I am the same way. I am obsessed with my favorite sports team (the New York Yankees and New York Jets). Unfortunately, many times in our love of our sports teams, we forget the importance of loving God. So I write this blog as a reminder to focus first on loving God, before we love our sports team.


 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
                                                                                                                                       Matthew 28:18-20

 As for me I will always have hope; I will praise you more.
My mouth will tell of your righteous deeds, of your saving acts all day
                                                                         Psalms 71:14-15



The other day I asked my oldest daughter (4 years old) what she wanted to be when she grew up. She told me she wanted to be a pray-er and to be God's helper. I thought it was sweet that she wanted to pray for people and help God. I also started to think what type of job she could do in the church.  About a week later, two of my very good friends came over to my house for dinner. This was no ordinary dinner because these friends of mine (husband and wife) were going on a long-term mission trip to London, England. I have no idea when I will see them again. But, I was overjoyed to tell my daughter they were going overseas to tell people about Jesus. That is the only reason they are going, that is their job.  I thought about my daughters answer to my question about what she was going to be when she grows up. I felt blessed to be able to show her two people who were great examples of  “pray-ers” and God's helpers. I have two other friends (husband and wife) who are going on a long-term missions trip to Ecuador, I can tell her about them also. My daughter didn’t say she wanted to a missionary (I do not think she even knows what that means). However, her answer indicted to me a heart to help people and an understanding that God and the power of prayer can do just that. People who know God, always have hope. People who understand the power of prayer always have hope. I am blessed to know that with God no situation is hopeless. I wish more people understood this.  I wish the people who know this (myself included) told more people.  We do not have to travel far to do this, but I thank God for people like my friends going to England and Ecuador. They are doing what God tells us all to do. Hopefully one day my daughter may do the same.

It is easy to forget how many positives existed for the New York Yankees this year. The thing that is prominent in many fans mind is the horrible offensive showing in the playoffs, and it was horrible.  It was painful to look at.  I am happy A-Rod was benched, although he really could have played against Justin Verlander. Nick Swisher should have been benched two games and he should not return to the New York Yankees. There is a lot of talk about trading Curtis Granderson. Remember this team traded Ian Kennedy (the Arizona Diamondbacks #1 pitcher), Austin Jackson (the Detroit Tigers leadoff batter and starting centerfield) and Phil Coke a hard throwing lefty out of the pen (who actually closed out the final two games of the playoffs against the Yankees) to get Granderson. I would not be so quick to trade him. If he gets traded I would want players just as good or better than those three. Last year he had an MVP caliber season and despite far too many strikeouts this year he led the team in homeruns and RBI’s.  This guy had more RBI’s and homeruns than Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Cano, and Mark Texeria. If he gets traded you better be able to replace that production. I am not saying don’t trade him, I am just saying don’t be so quick to trade him, because you will need to get a lot in return. There were positives to Granderson’s season and the team has a lot to be proud of. They overcame major injuries to Mariano Rivera, Mark Texeria, Alex Rodriguez, C.C Sabathia, Michael Pineda and Andy Pettitte, and finished with the best record in the American League. That requires an excellent job of managing and solid playing. Unfortunately, their lack of situational hitting and clutch hitting (which was bad all year) caught up with them in the playoffs. They can rectify that problem by making sure the term professional hitter returns to Yankee stadium. Tino Martinez, Paul O’Neil, Wade Boggs, Robin Ventura, Scott Brosius, Cecil Fielder and Hideki Matsui are former Yankee professional hitters. Raul Ibanez and Derek Jeter are current professional hitters; these are hitters who don’t just try to hit homeruns every time they come up to bat. They can get a runner in from third base with less than two outs and they can get a hit with 2 outs and a runner on in scoring position. I miss those New York Yankees, we used to have a lot of them, and I could not find them last year. However, despite the bad endings, there was a lot of good things about this year and for that, New York Yankees fans should have hope.

The New York Jets lost a game they should have won. They should have beat the New England Patriots which is really an odd thing to say. The New York Jets were left for  dead after the Forty Niner beat down.  However, since then, they lost a close one to the first place Houston Texans( a game they should have won), they destroyed the Indianapolis Colts and then this game. Everyone expected to Pats to beat the New York Jets badly, not only did that not happen, the Jets should have won. Of course, the Patriots won because they know how to. The New York Jets forgot how to win after their 2010 win against these same Patriots in the playoffs.  I must say as disappointed as I was after the game, I felt really hopeful about the season moving forward. Much like the New York Yankee season, the New York Jet game ended badly, but there were a lot of good things that we can take from this game. The running game was actually successful again, despite the Pats stout run defense, Mark Sanchez played a great game (minus the one pick and two fumbles). I never thought I would see the game where Sanchez had 41 pass attempts and the New York Jets almost win. Jeremy Kerley continues to progress and is developing into an excellent receiver, Dustin Keller is back and the defense played great for almost the entire game. Which brings us to the reasons why we lost. The defense after playing great for EVERY drive, blew it with the final two defensive drives. I have said this before, Rex Ryan's defense consistently fails to get a big stop to end out the game.
On Sunday the New York Jets play the Miami Dolphins, most likely this game will be hard fought and close. If it comes down to the defense making a stop to end the game, I can only hope they will get the job done.

Now that I got that off my chest it is time for prayer and a devotional before bed.