From the Dugout to the Diamond

In 1999, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays made Josh Hamilton the number one overall pick in the MLB Draft. He was eighteen years old with a cannon arm and a swing that scouts called once-in-a-generation. The baseball world expected greatness.

What followed instead were years of devastation. Injuries opened the door to painkillers, which led to cocaine and crack addiction. Hamilton was suspended, released, and forgotten. For nearly four years, he wandered far from the game he loved, sleeping on couches, burning through every relationship, losing everything that had once defined him.

Then came 2007. Clean, restored, and clinging to a faith he said had pulled him from the wreckage, Hamilton suited up for the Cincinnati Reds. By 2008, he stood in old Yankee Stadium during the Home Run Derby and launched twenty-eight home runs in the first round alone — a record — while seventy thousand people rose to their feet. Two years later, he was the American League MVP.

Hamilton never hid his story. He told anyone who would listen that God had met him at his lowest point and called him back.

That is exactly what the Almighty does. He does not wait for us to clean ourselves up first. He finds us in the far country, in the dugout of our worst decisions, and says, "You are still Mine. Come home."

No one is too far gone for the redeeming love of God. No one.