2 Nov, 2007
Matt Herges lives the ultimate hope!
Matt Herges, relief pitcher for the Colorado Rockies, was in the World Series! Though the Rockies were swept by Boston, Herges helped the Rockies get to the world championship. In the final NLCS game against the Diamond Backs, Herges retired the six Arizona batters he faced. This is an amazing feat given how he started the season.
Herges, a 10 year veteran of the major league, began the year on the Triple-A Colorado Springs minor league ball team. He had struggled last season with the Florida Marlins and found himself without any offers for a job in the big-league last winter. He couldn't even get a minor-league offer with a spring-training invite. It was through a friendship with an assistant general manager on the Rockies that he came to Colorado.
Many ballplayers would have retired from the game rather than face this kind of demotion, but his faith in Christ saw him through.
It's a faith that began through Youth for Christ. As a boy, Matt had watched the impact that the Campus Life program of East Central Illinois YFC had had on his older brothers, especially after the Campus Life trips they took, and he decided he wanted that for himself. It was the spring of his sophomore year in high school that he had the opportunity to go to Florida on a Campus Life trip. There, a man named Byron Emmert spoke in a way that made sense to him and he felt God's tugging. He surrendered his life to Christ that trip and he's been walking with Him ever since.
This last July, the Rockies recalled Herges up from the minors, a good move on the Rockies part as he has become a valuable member of the bullpen. His efforts helped the Colorado Rockies win the wild card seat in the National League playoffs and make it to the World Series!
It doesn't matter who you cheered for or if you follow baseball. Matt's story is another example of God's Spirit connecting God's Story to someone who was lost spiritually and now their story is connecting to the stories of many others.
photo & story courtesy yfci.net, 10/15/07
What's Your Story?
1 Peter 3:14-16 (NLT)
14 But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don’t worry or be afraid of their threats. 15 Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. 16 But do this in a gentle and respectful way.
What does today's God's Story scripture teach us about being ready to tell our story?
Peter, who had a personality that was loud and probably obnoxious at times, is not saying that we should use this style to communicate the loving truth of God's Story to others.
Peter is challenging us to live out the hope we have in Christ all the time. When others see us with hope, especially in tough times, they are going to wonder and sometimes ask about our story.
Why keep our hope in Christ to ourselves? While faith in Christ is a personal relationship, it is not to be kept as a personal matter.
We must tell our story and God's Story gently and respectfully out of a motive of love for others. Our job is not to judge others, but to abide in Jesus so that His love in us causes people to look for the answer of Hope we have in Christ.
Matt Herges is living out the hope that is in Christ alone. His story has and will connect the stories of others to God's Story.
Are we doing the same?
How can we connect today's God's Story scripture to our lives?
- First of all, remember that God will use your story! Today's story about Matt Herges is a lot of fun and very fulfilling for me (Byron) because Matt received Christ as his Savior at an event where I spoke. (I just found this out a couple of years ago.) You don't have to speak in front of a large group of students and you may never know how God's Story, in you, connects with another person. But this is the exciting part - it's God's work and plan - not ours - we just have the privilege of being story tellers of God's amazing love story!
- Memorize today's scripture as a reminder of the privilege and responsibility we have as Christ's followers to tell our story.
- Pray every day for Jesus to show you and empower you with His love to be ready to give the answer for His hope within you.
- Make a written list in your journal of specific examples of how Christ gives you daily hope for living. This will help you be ready when others ask why?
How can we connect today's story and God's Story scripture and our story to others?
- Pray for Jesus to show you at least once a week the opportunity to have a conversation with someone about the hope you have found through Christ.
- Make it a weekly goal to ask someone in your storysphere (a friend or family member who needs Jesus) a question about the challenges they face in life. It might be tough times, a decision, a specific need, a problem in a relationship, a ___________. Listen to them and Jesus for the opportunity to talk about the ultimate hope found only in Christ.
- Pray for Matt Herges as he continues to live out God's Story in a culture that loves to know more about pro athletes.
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