Rockfest Day 23 - Second Chances

This is not the post I planned to write today. But the events of yesterday intervened and really I had no choice. Last night’s Playoff baseball game between the Texas Rangers and the New York Yankees mandates today’s writing. After yesterdays’ post you’re probably rolling your eyes thinking I’m becoming a sport’s writer but I’m not that lucky and this post is not about sports, it’s about second chances. About resurrecting what was thought to be lost and forever gone. It’s about a pitcher named Colby Lewis.

Between 2002 and 2007 Colby Lewis had a total of 12 victories. And last night he was about to start the most important game in Texas Rangers history, to date – the game that could send them to the World Series.

I had never heard of Colby Lewis before yesterday. Now, I will never forget him. He was first drafted by the Rangers in 1999. He made his big league debut in 2002. Subsequently, he was traded to the Detroit Tigers, signed as a free agent with the Washington Nationals, released and signed by the Oakland Athletics, waived and signed by the Kansas City Royals and finally released from the big leagues for good that same year, 2007. He also underwent rotator cuff surgery. He became what people in the game call a journeyman.

After all the bouncing around and surgery Colby thought his career in the major leagues was over. But at 28 he still had the desire to pitch. He was given the opportunity to pitch for the Hiroshima Carp in Japan. It was a huge risk. Taking his family to a foreign country where they didn’t know anyone or speak the language. But he wanted to pitch and he thought he’d finish his career out in Japan.

Things didn’t work out quite that way. A major league baseball scout took notice of Colby over there. Noticed that Colby had changed his pitching style. He was more effective, had more control, had matured. Three years after he thought his career in the majors was over, Colby was offered the chance of a lifetime – a second chance to pitch for the Texas Rangers.

Colby won as many games in 2010 (12) as he had won in all of his previous six years in the big leagues combined. And last night he pitched the game of his life. I won’t go into the details of the game because the baseball details are not what are important here. What is important is that a man who was by all accounts mediocre at the beginning of his career and experienced a dream ending flame out, never gave up. He kept the door open.

By going to Japan and working on his game he kept the door open. By keeping the door open, by taking some action, any action, towards his goal of pitching, he was giving God room to work. He may have thought it impossible to get back to the big leagues from Japan but God didn’t. He may have thought no one will ever notice him in a foreign land but God sees us wherever we are.

Scripture is replete with Colby Lewis stories.  Take the Israelites after Moses has died.  They reach the Jordan river and have no way to cross.  They think its all over for them.  The last time they faced a river with no way to cross their leader Moses raised his staff and parted the sea for them.  Without Moses this time they think they cannot cross.  But God says He will help them.  To be strong and of good courage. (Joshua 1:9).  He will make a way for them, but first they must take a first step. 

God tells the Israelites that when the soles of the feet of the priests carrying the Ark of the Lord touch the waters of the river, the river will stop flowing.  This takes faith and action.  If the priests had believed but stayed on the banks the river would never have dried up.  But they trusted and took a small step of action and walked into the water and crossed on dry ground.  (Joshua).  The Israelites gave God room to work. 

If Colby had given up, if he had stayed at home in the US and laid on his couch and waited for the phone to ring, chances are great that he would still be waiting. But he gave God room to work and he was rewarded last night by being handed the ball as starting pitcher and the chance to pitch his team to their first World Series.

It is a second chance Colby did not squander. He pitched 8 amazing innings. I bet the people in Japan could hear his shouts of joy after the final out, Rangers 6 – Yankees 1.

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