Hope For the Hopeless

   When I was in school students used to refer to some of their "loser" classmates as lost causes. Perhaps you remember too. Maybe you were one of the ridiculed. Students, and unfortunately sometimes teachers, used to say that certain kids were a hopeless cause. Sometimes to their face other times behind their backs. It makes no difference though. It happened in our neighborhoods too. This must have been hard for all of those kids to hear such vitriol. Sure, maybe they did not have it all together. I guess I was a lost cause too because I don't think I had it all together by age 13! I escaped the branding but others close to me did not. Too many times words are spoken and people believe a lie about themselves. Often we go on believing we are a hopeless and a lost cause because it was spoken over us. There is always hope though. However, we listen to the voices that tell us lies. And we believe what they say. But hope springs eternal.

  This past week I finished a book that really stimulated this hope for the hopeless topic. It is the story of Josh Hamilton and his comeback from extreme drug abuse. He is the current major league ballplayer who plays baseball for the Texas Rangers. And he is my hero. He was the can't miss high school baseball phenom. Loaded with talent people said he was the next Mickey Mantle. He could hit a ball 450 feet with ease and throw it 95-97 miles per hour effortlessly. Talent like that does not come along every day. It is rare to see a lefthander have the ability to throw with that kind of velocity. He was the number one draft pick out of Athens Road High School here in Raleigh, NC in 1999 by the Tampa Bay Rays. It is the dream of a lot of boys to play major league baseball when they grow up. Baseball has its lure. The darkness offers pleasures too. He was living that dream until the nightmare began.

  A few years into his pro career the bottom fell out and the can't miss kid, the so-called next Mickey Mantle, would enter the dark and destructive world of drugs. Cocaine and crack were his demons of choice. That darkness was a place that only God could pull him back from. Josh said so himself. Many people wrote him off. Of course he hurt people along the way. He hurt his wife and kids and family. He readily admits so in the book. He was deemed a lost cause. He even thought so himself. Hope was fading fast. However in the Creator's eyes there is no such thing as a "lost cause." God never wrote him off. His wife told him that one day he would come back and play ball and that there was going to be a greater purpose. No one is ever truly hopeless. No situation is ever truly hopeless. Not when there is a God like mine. It could only take divine intervention to bring Josh back from the darkest of all worlds. No matter how destructive our behavior He is forever the Savior.

  Reading Josh's story had such a profound affect on me. For some reason the book just kept on resonating in my head. I couldn't shake it and I couldn't figure out why. I was in the shower a few days after I finished reading it and was thinking about his story and then it hit me. I remembered my own dark time. Back in college I got caught up in gambling on pro and college sports. I was in deep. It consumed me for a season. It was my drug. In a small school, like the one I attended, word gets around and people talk. It could have been a lot worse though. When you are playing with money you don't have it is dangerous and foolish. One night after doubling down and now being in the hole somewhere in the thousands (of which I could not pay) I took a trip to see the bet-taker. He was gracious and erased my bets for the night. When I left I was thankful I could do so walking on two feet. Still, I had a large tab, no money and no shot. I deemed it hopeless and yet the One greater intervened. The bet-taker got caught and my tab was erased. There was hope for the hopeless.

  There are many stories of hope out there. Maybe you have one. I had mine. They are on all different levels but nonetheless a hopeless story that turned out hopeful is an inspiration for others. Josh Hamilton's story has inspired lots of people. People would say if Josh could come back so could they. I bet they still say it. Folks were bringing their drug addict friends and family to the ballpark so maybe Josh could talk to them and inspire them. I bet they still bring them to see him. I guess there was a bigger purpose. His wife was right. Your life can have that same affect. Maybe it already has. Someday I would love to meet Josh and have dinner with him. I would love to thank him. His story is tremendous and heroic. Let's never give up on those we love no matter how hopeless everyone else thinks they are. There is a God who never gives up. I am living proof that no one is ever a hopeless cause. And so are you. Remember, it's about the dash!