What's your dream worth?
joeacast
This morning I was watching a documentary on some of the biggest oddballs of baseball: Knuckleball throwers. These are pitchers who throw a ball that doesn’t rotate, is hard to catch and that doesn’t usually travel faster than 75-80 mph, and often travels more like 55-60 mph. In a day and age when pitchers are praised for throwing 100 mph, or where curve balls make great hitters look bad, few teams have a place for an old-fashioned knuckleballer.
One of them, R. A. Dickey, was facing the end of his tumultuous career after one good season (2010) was followed by an injury plagued year where his pitch just wasn’t working (2011). But his dream to be a great Major League pitcher, and to dominate at his position, was too big to end. So R.A. drove across the country to meet other pitchers of his ilk. In baseball history, despite tens of thousands of pitchers, less than 100 have been knuckleballers, and today, there are only two who pitch the knuckleball in all of baseball.
R. A. met with previous knuckleball pitchers. He analyzed bad games. He changed how he held the ball. He learned to adjust to his speed. He pitched through some serious pain. He didn’t give up.
His dream was worth the work, and a year later (2012) RA won baseball’s highest honor for a pitcher: the Cy Young Award. He was the first knuckleball pitcher in history to win that award.
Is your dream big enough to work for? Will you meet other who can help? Will you learn from the “bad starts” an mistakes you’ve made? Will you work for it when you’re not at your best? Will you play hurt? Will you change your approach?
Living the Overboard Life is about taking the steps to pursue what God has in store for you. Ephesians 3:20 continues to resonate in my heart, day after day: “God can do anything you know, far more than you could ever imagine, guess or request in your wildest dreams” (The Message). Jesus is out on the water calling you out of the boat to chase after the dreams He has placed in your heart. Will you step out in faith and trust Him? Will you work through the hardships? Will you see it through?
Go ahead and take the plunge, life is better on the water!