Monday, November 21, 2011

Getting Better - 11/21/11

Rehab is going really well.  The clinic takes measurements of the range of motion in my shoulder.  The results of the measurements are improving session by session.  I am very happy with the progress. I recently got to spend time with Dr. Kibler and had a chance to ask him some questions while getting a full evaluation.  I have learned a lot about the relationships that muscles have with one another.  Dr. Kibler gave me a layout of my deficiencies.  Although I can lift a lot of weight, the muscles that control the stability of my joints, and consequently my overall functional strength, are weak.  My hips are tight and weak.  My lower back is tight.  The muscles holding my shoulder blade (scapula) in the correct position are weak, allowing my shoulder to slump forward.  My right pectoralis is tight, pulling my shoulder forward.  All of this causes my shoulder to be in an unhealthy position, thereby putting stress on my shoulder when I throw.  I want my hips, back and scapular muscles to be taking the punishment from throwing, not the small muscles and connective tissues in my shoulder.  In order to get my shoulder healthy, and hopefully even better than before, I must get these muscle groups sorted out.  Once I have my shoulder in the healthy position, it will heal and get strong.  If you look at pitchers you can see how this weakness is evident.  In a lot of pitchers, you will see their shoulders slumping forward, which is a direct symptom of tightness in the front and weakness in the back.  I was told every time I walk through a door I must pinch my shoulder blades down and back.  This is the correct and strong position for my shoulders to be in.  So, in effect I need to walk as though I am standing at attention in front of a superior officer.  This will strengthen those muscles controlling the scapula, put my shoulder in the correct position, and train those muscles to take responsibility for my shoulder so that my ligaments don’t have to.  I have met quite a few athletes while training at UofL.  I have met an athlete training for the Olympics.  I have met an athlete training for the MLS (Major League Soccer).  The common theme that I have come across is how important the small things are.  Even that tiny muscle that controls the scapula has a huge impact.  I have to take care of the small things as well as the big things.

Until now, I haven’t prayed about the healing of my shoulder.  I have not presented any request asking Him to heal me.  Some of this has to do with my confidence in Him.  I am convinced that He knows what He is doing better than I do, so it just makes sense to trust Him.  But, this is not what I see in scripture.  I see people presenting requests, people coming to Jesus to be healed.  They come to Him knowing that He is the Healer.  While much can be made of doctors’ skills to heal, nothing will come of it if He is not involved.  I have heard about it in surgeries.  Some go well, others do not.  As great as Dr. Kibler and his rehab team are, the real one I want on my side is God.  The question is: why do I want to be healed?  I think that is a valid question for any of us to ask about our motives.  “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” (James 4:1-3) Here I am, injured and coming to God with a request.  For you, maybe it is something else you are asking Him for.  Maybe it’s that job.  Maybe it’s a test or game to go well.  Maybe it’s a much more serious health issue than mine.  The question is: Am I better off, from God’s perspective, with this issue not being solved the way I would like it to be?  If being healed will cause me to sin more, if being healed will cause me to think more about myself and my plans, if being healed causes me to care less about God, if being healed causes me to be concerned with the things of this world and not Him, then it is better for me that I remain hurt!  When I ask Him for things, am I thinking about what is good for me or am I thinking about how I can serve Him better if this was resolved?  I think that whatever causes me to be closer to God, whatever causes me to love others better, whatever causes others to love Him more, that is what He wants to do in my life.  He wants us to come to Him for healing.  He wants us to come to Him and stay with Him.  “Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.  So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”  (Luke 17:11-19) “Father, please heal my shoulder.  I am Your servant and I want to accomplish Your will.  If it would be better for my shoulder not to be healed, I am fine with that.  I trust You.  I know the platform I get, the opportunities I have to shine Your light when on or off the field, so if You do choose to heal my shoulder, please help me, Your servant, to love You and others the way You have loved me.”

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Through The Eye Of The Needle

Through The Eye Of The Needle - 10/11/11

The season is over. Who would have thought it would turn out like this? At the beginning of the season, I was hoping for a September call up, but instead was called up in May and missed September on the disabled list! I didn’t think I was going to be able to contribute much at the big league level this year, but I had a 3 1/3 inning, 1 hit, 0 run effort against the Marlins and later a 3 2/3 inning, 3 hit, 1 run effort against the Rangers (one of, if not the, best offensive team in baseball). It was a blast. If you take away my really bad outing against the Minnesota Twins (2 innings, 5 hits, 6 runs, ouch!), I had a very successful short time in the big leagues this year with a 2.95 ERA, 10 hits, 9 strikeouts, 4 walks, 4 runs in 12 2/3 innings. This means that I can pitch and be successful at this level. Now it’s about refinement, experience, execution. This offseason is going to be very important to set up the opportunity to be able to compete at this level again next year. On the to do list: 1. Get my shoulder healthy through rest and then get it strong so that I can perform at the intensity and frequency that I need in the big leagues. 2. Get stronger and more explosive, every little bit counts. When we are talking about missing the sweet spot by mere fractions of an inch, every little advantage becomes huge. 3. Prepare for the season by working on executing my pitches, establishing my presence on the mound, and dominating with my fastball, cutter, and splitter. 

There are great things about being a big leaguer. It’s a great experience to compete against the best of the best, the guys that I have watched on TV for years, and get a few of them out. It’s a little fun when people ask, “So, what do you do for a living?” “I play baseball.” “Oh, yeah? So… College? Minor leagues?” “The Oakland A’s” “Uh… THE Oakland A’s?!” “Yup.” But, it also creates some difficulties. I am now surrounded by wealthy individuals with big contracts, which is interesting for me, as I lived out of a La Quinta for the last month because a one-month lease was really expensive. Luke 18:24-25, “How hard it is for rich people to enter the Kingdom of God! It is much harder for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.” That sure makes it difficult for us in North America, eh? (according to Global Rich List, globalrichlist.com, if you make $40,000/year you are wealthier than 96% of the people on earth and 85% of the people on earth earn less than $2,200/year) What do I want to do? I want to try and shove that Camel right through the eye of the needle, be rich AND enter the Kingdom of God. But, anyone who has ever held a sewing needle in your fingers, and then looked at a camel, knows this is impossible. Those that have actually tried to put a camel through the eye of a needle, are even more certain. I am in the process of reading A.W.Tozer’s “The Pursuit of God”. It is an amazing book. Reading and talking about it has blessed me. Tozer says, “There is within the human heart a tough fibrous root of fallen life whose nature is to possess, always to possess. It covets “things” with a deep and fierce passion. The pronouns “my” and “mine” look innocent enough in print, but their constant and universal use is significant. They are verbal symptoms of our deep disease. The roots of our hearts have grown down into things, and we dare not pull up one rootlet lest we die. Things have become necessary to us, a development never originally intended. God’s gifts now take the place of God, and the whole course of nature is upset by the monstrous substitution. Our Lord referred to this tyranny of things when He said to His disciples, ‘If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it.’” I can’t live as a rich man and get into the kingdom of heaven. It is impossible. And so, I must consider the wealth that I get is not mine. Either Christ is mine, or something else takes His place. It makes it so much easier to give when what I am giving isn’t mine. It is much easier to take care of people in need when I’m not busy taking care of myself. It is much easier to rescue someone else from a terrible future when I am not building my own. “Father, I want to know You, but my coward heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try to hide from You the terror of the parting. I come trembling, but I do come. Please root from my heart all those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that You may enter and dwell there without a rival. Then You will make the place of Your feet glorious. Then my heart will have no need of the sun to shine in it, for You will be the light of it, and there will be no night there. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.” (A.W. Tozer)