061027_exksteinmvp_vmed_10pwidec.jpgI was thinking about David Eckstein in my hotel this morning. Wait…that didn’t come out right. What I meant to say was that when it comes to faith and my time on this earth, I want to be like David Eckstein. Let me explain…

If you follow baseball at all, you know that David Eckstein is a shortstop for the Toronto Blue Jays. He has also played for the Anaheim Angels and won a World Series ring (and Series MVP) with the St. Louis Cardinals. Yet if you passed him in a mall or airport, you would have no idea he’s a big league ballplayer. He is about as tall as my 7 year old and weighs about 150 pounds soaking wet. His hat usually looks like it just came off the rack with a bill so straight you could land a plane on it. He’s not flashy. Yet if you’ve ever seen him play, you know that he uses every ounce of what he has. He gets more out of his frame than most people his size could dream of.

To quote Barry Bonds:

“He’s one of my favorite players ever,” Bonds said. “I told him that he’s a gift from God. Everything is difficult for him, yet he gets it done and done well.”

So why was I thinking of him this morning in my hotel room? Actually I was thinking about how I want to know that when this race is over, I left it all on the field. That’s when Eckstein popped into my mind. I was thinking to myself that I want to know that I used every ounce I had, everything I was given to impact the Kingdom. I don’t want to settle for average. I don’t want to just get comfortable where I am if there is more I can do. I don’t want to play it safe, when I could have reached higher, learned more, shared more, given more, been more for the Kingdom. I want to play the game of life like Eckstein plays every game. I want to use it all for Gods glory, and then find a little bit more.

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