Freewriting: Managing Baseball and Books

For as long as I can remember, I had dreams of being a college athlete. The lifestyle seemed like something that would be desired by all students that enjoyed sports. Waking up in the morning, followed by breakfast and class, hanging out with friends, winning baseball games, and being known on campus as a ball player seemed like the ideal lifestyle to me. However, no one made me aware of the struggles that come along with being asked to perform at an elite level in the classroom and on the athletic field on a daily basis. The pressure that is involved with being a college athlete is overwhelming at times, and pushes many guys and girls away from doing what they’ve grown up loving. At the college level, playing a sport takes much more than talent and skill. It takes a very well rounded person to be able to handle the strenuous schedule of classes, baseball, homework, lifting, meetings, and, on occasion, social time, in that order. The switch from high school baseball to college baseball has been an eye opening experience for me because the game I grew up playing has now become a full time job in just one year. From three hour practices right after class, to lifting every single night, the game doesn’t seem like much of a game at all. I believe that if a person has the will power and the desire to finish college with a degree and good grades while putting so much effort and time into baseball, he or she will be able to be successful in whatever they want in life. 

I didn’t choose to write about this in class. I put my pen to the page and began to write down my feelings and this flowed from my brain. It had been a long, hard week for me and I was flat out exhausted when I entered class that day. I chose to revise this writing because I feel like it does have meaning and it can help people who aren’t athletes understand what we go through on a daily basis. I believe that some people think that athletes are spoiled in college and get whatever we please, but from what I’ve seen so far, it is just the opposite. The work and dedication is intense, and it is not something that a person can enter into half-heartedly. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/uloop/the-life-of-a-student-ath_b_2963409.html

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Free Writing: Joshua

I feel like I must, before I begin, give a disclaimer to anyone who is reading my post. These thoughts are simply my feelings on a daily basis; they are in no way meant to make anyone feel sorry for me or my life situations. My brother Josh passed away on December 19th, 2012 after a long battle with the “unbeatable” lung disease cystic fibrosis. I, as well as my family, approached the circumstances from a Christian perspective, placing our hope in God and knowing that we will see him again one day. As his condition worsened, I began to really approach Christianity with an open mind and dig into the Scriptures. Like most people, I found it difficult to read the Bible because of many reasons; mainly because of the amount of time it takes to actually sit down and read in a quiet place. However, the first Book that I turned to, for obvious reasons, was the Book of Joshua. In the first chapter I read that the LORD said to the prophet Joshua, “No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, I will also be with you; I will never leave you or forsake you.” Clearly this passage wasn’t meant directly for the Joshua that was my best friend. Or was it? I believe this verse was meant for all people who put their faith in Christ, and as a new “Christian” it was extremely comforting to read. The way I interpreted this verse was that the “no one” meant “nothing.” No disease, no person, no relationship; nothing is “too big” for a God who created the World. I kept this verse in my back pocket in the last few months of his life and I knew that nothing could beat him. I was extremely depressed in the weeks following his passing because I felt like God let me down. It has taken me several months of talking to family and friends to finally realize that he was never actually beaten by cystic fibrosis. He is in a better place than we can imagine. I hold onto the hope that I will see him face to face again, and I will read him the Scripture I never got the chance to read to him aloud.