Strike 3

Baseball analogies. We use so many of them. Strike 3, hitting it out of the park, step up to the plate, threw him a curve ball, sitting the bench; throw in football terminology, we use punt, and basketball's slam dunk, the world is full of sports terms. I was thinking about strike 3 this week. My middle stepdaughter is 19 and she is in jail. For the third time in 6 months. First time was two days for domestic violence. Second time was 5 weeks for criminal discharge of a firearm. This was the day after Thanksgiving. She was released on probation December 31 and picked back up for making false writings on January 14 (writing stolen checks). We think strike 3 and you are out. I think strike 3 and you are out. But I have been thinking lately, out of what? You get 3 strikes and your at bat is over. You go back to the dug out and wait your next turn. It will be 9 batters from now. It may be 3 innings away, or it may be the same inning. But you do get to bat again. And when this game is over, you get to bat in the next game. And when the season is over, you get to bat in the next season. My son plays spring ball, summer ball and fall ball.
I know I have been guilty of thinking it's over before it is. You can always start over. Lamentations 3:22-23 says "The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. 23 Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning." This goes hand in hand with the sermon series we are in at Newspring, Capitalize, but it's been on my heart for a while as well.
I think they I have tried and failed at dieting so many times, maybe this is as good as it gets. And maybe it is. But I'm healthier because I'm aware of it, so I don't need to count myself out of the game. I think that the goals and dreams we have for our lives are more unlikely to come to fruition the older we get, but that's not true. I shouldn't count us out at 40 years old. If I go back to the baseball analogy, it's funny to me that Nate's batting average last season of .356 was good enough to land him top 25 in Wichita city league. That's good stuff. 1 out of every 3 at bats he got a hit. He had 1 success then 2 failures. And that was considered a good season. When I expect perfection, I'm expecting something that is not possible. I need to maintain my "finish strong" attitude I have running. It's not first, it's not last, it's how I perform. Do I keep going through the hard times or do I give up and crumble? Life is hard. Life is messy. We may be down, but we are not ever out because Great is His faithfulness. I can do all things through Christ BECAUSE he gives me strength. I do believe my stepdaughter needs to straighten up and fly right. Cut the cords with her current crowd. Turn her life around. But until she does, she's just waiting for her next at bat. And maybe she'll strike out again. But she will get in the batters box again, and at some point, she's going to get a hit. She's going to do the right thing.
So I will carry on knowing I CAN DO IT. Maybe not the fastest, the strongest, the best, but I'm a finisher. Finishing strong. With a smile on my face.