... Ever since my Sophomore year in high school, my life goal was to play baseball at the collegiate level. I played 3rd base, but most of all I was a pitcher. And I was a good one. Pitching was my only chance to play in college since I didn't hit for enough power as a 3rd baseman. I studied the game, would stay up late watching games between teams that I didn't even care about (for example, Twins vs. White Sox) and worked constantly on my mechanics. I got to a point where I was able to tell what the pitcher was going to throw next. I even stopped playing basketball after my Sophomore year just so I could focus on baseball. It was almost an addiction.
All of the work I put into baseball didn't end when my regular high school season ended. After a disappointing 2nd round finish in the playoffs my Junior year, I continued to play all throughout that summer. I played in about 10 tournaments with various teams and did about 5 showcases and even had a personal try-out with East Cobb Baseball in Atlanta. Then, in the last week of June, I had one final tournament down in PCB with a small travel team called the Macon Titans. It wasn't a big tournament (there weren't many scouts there), but it was the beginning of a huge change in my life.
During that final tournament in PCB, I began to feel a sharp pain in my elbow. I had spent plenty of time in the training room for arm troubles throughout my career in baseball. I had deltoid strains, a disturbed growth plate in my shoulder, and tendinitis in my elbow before, so I just assumed this was tendonitis, too and decided to not worry about it until after the tournament. I ended up throwing 9 innings throughout the week with the pain in my elbow, and then when it hurt too much, I was put in the outfield. By then, the pain from throwing and even gripping a baseball was getting to be unbearable. After this week, the next few months flew by. I went on to get an MRI and found out my Ulnar Ligament was beginning to uproot out of my Ulna. So, from August to December I didn't throw, hit, or play on the Wii. I even taught myself how to bowl and shoot basketball left handed so I could at least do something, but overall, I was basically out until the doctor said I could begin playing catch again in December.
In December, I began a gradual throwing program and was feeling much better after 4 months of minimal activity. My arm began to get back into shape and I even did a showcase in January in South Carolina (I did not pitch during this). Then, after all the winter workouts and conditioning, my coach let me start in our scrimmage game against Houston County. This was the first time I pitched 100% since I was hurt, and it ended up going horribly wrong. After about 20 pitches, my arm popped. I tried to throw another pitch and it went about 57 feet and just like that, I was out. I ended up missing 3/4 of the season on the bench until I finally forced myself to play 3rd, and did not throw a single pitch my entire Senior season. I was miserable. I wanted nothing more than to play college ball and as I said before, pitching was my only chance. So, soon after that, I gave up on the sport.
You may be asking yourself, how does this relate to a blog about Summer Leadership Project (SLP)? But, as I think about how much of a blessing it is to get to go on this trip, I am reminded that God has been working on my life to get me here for a long time, now. I ended up not playing baseball in college, but instead got into the University of Georgia (by nothing less than a miracle, because my grades were not amazing in any way), and after having lived for myself for the large part of a semester, I was introduced to the loving community of Campus Outreach. I can't help but imagine where my life would be if I had not so graciously been injured.
What caught my attention so much is that this whole chain of events began with pain in my elbow in PCB, and now I am going back to PCB to grow in awe of an unpredictable and immeasurable God. Looking back, I can see more clearly the direction he has led me and continues to lead me, and as I leave for SLP tomorrow, I am reminded that even though my struggles seem to be too much for me to bear, he has put it in his plan for my good (Romans 8:28). Though my mind can get so focused on the short term outcome of events in my life, it is comforting knowing that God is always planning to do something amazing through it.
... "For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those that have been trained by it." (Hebrews 12:11)
Please send me an email at swbowers@uga.edu is you have any questions or want me to pray for you in any way.
Thank you and God Bless,
Stewbear
No comments:
Post a Comment