Josh Hamilton achieved something last night only 15 other players in the history of Major League Baseball have done – hitting four homeruns in a game. Against the Orioles, Hamilton was just about as perfect as it gets from a night at the plate, 5 hits in 5 at bats, all of them extra base hits, 18 total bases and eight runs batted in. For those of you not into baseball who those figures are lost on, that’s as good as it gets.
But still that’s not the best part. Whenever Hamilton draws the attention of media for his exploits on the field he is quick to point to the power of God that brought him back to baseball from drug and alcohol abuse and put his life off the field back in order.
Writing about Hamilton’s big night in a column for the Baltimore Sun, columnist Peter Shmuck quoted Hamilton saying this:
“When you think about what God has done in my life and everything I did to mess it up and to finally surrender everything and ask him for help and to pursue that relationship with Christ on a daily basis, and understanding that when I don’t pursue it I end up messing up. It’s got to be the forefront of my recovery and the forefront of being a good dad, a husband, a good teammate, so that’s what I focus on. Knowing that I play for an audience of one — Jesus Christ.”
Few of us get to go to work and play in front of tens of thousands of people every night (sadly, only 11,000 showed up to Camden Yards for the historic effort last night), but like Hamilton we should be striving to live our lives for an audience of one.
Rather than seeking the approval of the masses, our heart’s desire should on the things of God and a life of purpose and fulfillment that even the praise of baseball fans and sportswriters being lavished today on Josh Hamilton can’t even come close to providing.
