Faith, Baseball and Polaroid Pictures

They say one of the toughest pitches to hit in baseball is a good curve ball.  Countless professional players take awful hacks at curveballs each season and look silly doing so.  A batter expects to receive a fastball right down the middle that he can crush out of the park one minute but instead he gets the curve that breaks six feet and drops in for strike three.

Like baseball, life isn't just fastballs right down the middle of the plate.  Every now and then God will toss in a good curve ball of His own.  Yesterday was just one of those days, I was looking for the fastball and then BOOM curve ball, strike three.

It's 4:37 AM and I got off of the phone with my mom a little bit ago.  What is she doing up at this hour you ask?  She coaches swimming at the crack of dawn, Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  Anyway, I've had a difficult time sleeping this evening and after we chatted for a while she made one simple suggestion.  Pray.  The power of prayer is so remarkable.

God is...

All knowing

All powerful

Forgiving

Faithful

Protective

Creator

The list goes on and on.

Life is like a Polaroid picture.  We develop a spectacular idea of how we think a picture will turn out, but a minute later when the picture comes in to focus we see the real picture.

Often times we become content with developing our own picture/plan before the real picture has time to develop.  We can develop our own plan all we want but the majority of the time our plan may not be God's plan.  

I encourage you to take comfort in prayer, quite the stress reliever if you ask me.  Cast all your anxieties on God and let Him worry about them.

I'll close this entry by something I stumbled across about a year ago that really puts things in to perspective.

Memo From God
To:  YOU
Date:  TODAY
From:  GOD
Subject:  YOURSELF
Reference:  LIFE

I am God.

Today I will be handling all of your problems.
Please remember that I do not need your help.

If life happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle, do not attempt to resolve it.  Kindly put it in the SFGTD (something for God to do) box.  All situations will be resolved, but in My time, not yours.

Once the matter is placed into the box, do not hold onto it by worrying about it.  Instead, focus on all the wonderful things that are present in your life now.

If you find yourself stuck in traffic; don't despair.  There are people in this world for whom driving is an unheard of privilege.

Should you have a bad day at work; think of the man who has been out of work for years.

Should you despair over a relationship gone bad; think of the person who has never known what it's like to love and be loved in return.

Should you grieve the passing of another weekend; think of the woman in dire straits, working twelve hours a day, seven days a week to feed her children.

Should your car break down, leaving you miles away from assistance; think of the paraplegic who would love the opportunity to take that walk.

Should you notice a new gray hair in the mirror; think of the cancer patient in chemo who wishes she had hair to examine.

Should you find yourself at a loss and pondering what life is all about, asking what is my purpose?  Be thankful.  There are those who didn't live long enough to get the opportunity.

Should you find yourself the victim of other people's bitterness, ignorance, smallness or insecurities  remember, things could be worse.  You could be one of them!
-------

I may have swung and missed at the curve ball, but God never will and will knock it out of the park every time because His plan is PERFECT.

All Good Things Come To An End

I sat on the edge of a busy downtown Chicago street this afternoon as a very important chapter of my life came to a close.  

Today marked the end of my competitive volleyball career; a career that began my freshman year of high school because I was cut from the baseball team.  What a career it was.

I'm going to keep this post brief and speak specifically about my career at Siena Heights.  Coach Watkins gave me an opportunity that few other coaches would have and I am so glad he did.  It has been a pleasure to play for him the past four years and I've really enjoyed my time as a member of his teams.

As for my teammate, you've all been great.  The past three years were pretty awesome but I'd say that this season has been by far the best.  This year I made sure I made an effort to really get to know everyone on the team.  Most people "know" their teammates but I wanted to KNOW my teammates like they were my brothers, and the were.

Years down the road I'll look back at this year and have so many awesome memories even though the wins and losses didn't end up how we wanted them to.

I took time to myself in the locker room after we lost in the first round of the MAMVIC East conference tournament today to reflect on the past eight years.  There is nothing that can be done to change what happened and my career is over.  Now it's time to continue on my journey to become a physical therapist

I Need YOUR Help!

I thought the hard part of grad school was getting in, but I've been presented with an even more difficult task now that I've been accepted by the University of Toledo.  I begin school June 10th, one month and six days after I graduate from Siena Heights University.  That being the case I need to move all of my stuff home and then find a place to live in Toledo hopefully before June 1st.  I am also in need of a reliable, reasonably priced car.

Here is where you come into play.  My parents and I have ZERO knowledge of the city of Toledo.  We can tell you Toledo is in Northwest Ohio and way too many Michigan fans live there but that is about it.  If you know of any safe places to live that are close to main campus, my classes will be in the Health and Human Services Building, please please please let me know.  Also, if you are looking to sell a car or know someone that is selling a car please contact me.

The former of the two requests is more important than the latter because I can get by riding a bike for the summer.  However, if a reasonable opportunity to purchase a vehicle presents itself I won't pass it up.

I am trying to keep all of my information regarding grad school in a centralized location so please contact me via email if you have any insight.  Thanks!

bbowers@sienaheights.edu

Thanks for your continual support of me, my journey and my walk with the Lord.