Count your Blessings
Life can be difficult.
For us as parents, we go through difficulties daily. Jobs, kids, marriages, bills, and the list could go on and on.
Our kids have difficulties daily too. School, homework, bullies, and most kids will give you 20 more things that are hard.
So, the question is, why is everything so hard all the time?
Let’s look at the book of James:
James 1:2-4
“My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”
So according to James, we should be excited when we go through hard times?
Image Caption: Consoling a player, getting out, dropping a fly ball, this game is full of difficulties!
Using baseball to teach life lessons is such a good tool because it symbolizes life. You try as hard as you can, do everything right, and hit the ball directly to someone’s glove for an out. Like real life, things don’t always work out as you think they should.
Golf Balls
Golf balls were invented in 1898 and made from a leather pouch filled with feathers. The balls were smooth on the outside, so they did not fly very far when hit. As the ball was hit more and more it started developing dents and nicks in it. The players realized that the more dents it had, the farther it would go.
Fast forward to today. A golf ball has 338 dimples in it. Some have 500!
Every dent is designed to make this ball fly as far as it possibly can.
All the trials and difficulties we come across are just God denting us and molding us, designing us to go as far in life as we can if we chose to believe in his plan and not our own plans.
There is not a single verse in the bible that says believing in God is going to be an easy road. We are told it’s the hard path, the narrow road, the narrow gate.
Paul who had more trials for following Jesus than any of us wrote this:
Romans 8:28
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose."
As we go through life, we are going to have tough times. There is no doubt about that.
But each event is designed for us to grow and to GO FAR!
Let’s remember, that God is shaping us to go further and have faith in him!
Separation from Magic Softball
Over the past month, we had to make some difficult decisions to ensure that M-Pact Baseball is in a position to grow. Not in numbers but always looking to grow in quality. We started Magic Softball as an extension of what we do here at M-Pact. The first team was a group of then 14U girls and the philosophy lined up directly with what M-Pact had already established. That group of girls moved on to showcase ball, so we tried to rebuild at the youth level.
With the second attempt, we tried to put someone with knowledge of the softball landscape at the helm. Over the last 18 months, as hard as we tried, the culture and alignment of goals just hasn’t worked out. We tried to make changes internally and we could not find a common ground.
Our community and the amount of time we have put into our culture here at M-Pact has set up apart. As much as we wanted to provide that for the girls, the Magic Softball experiment was too far removed from our foundations. This does affect our overall club budget, but we still feel as a group this was the right decision. Plus, it frees up plenty of practice space. If there are any questions about why we made this move, please feel free to contact us at mpactbaseballok@gmail.com
High School Player Showcase
Our first team established at M-Pact were 9U players. They are now sophomores in high school! Some have joined later but the focus has always been on developing kids that will be leaders. They still represent M-Pact in the summer circuit and now have gotten their chance to represent us while playing for their schools. Some had some moments as freshman which is impressive as well. This year we have gotten the pleasure of seeing several M-Pact kids play big roles in their High School teams’ success. As we roll into the playoffs this week, here are some pictures of our boys in their school uniforms. We are very proud of these young men and the foundation they laid for the next generation of DirtDogBoys!
North Rock Creek - Hasten Conley, Owin Payne, Drake Clemmons, Alexander Monge, Jaxon Murray, Caleb Looper, Brayden Longest
Bethel – Weston Henry, Zach Jennings, Cayden Carpenter, and Maverick Wingo
Dale – Hunter Watkins, Carver Crowson, Briar Turman
Chandler – Bryson Taylor
Byng – Preston Welch, Easton Welch, Lane Alexander, Kix Stephens
Latta - Landon Fortner
Maud – Beau Willis, Ryan Poull, Brendan Poull
Harrah – Cooper Kennedy
Holdenville – Wyatt Seely
Image Caption: Scroll though the slideshow to see our guys in action. Many of these kids have played more than 3 years with some longer than 5! It's a true testament to the teaching them to love the process and kids who wanted to be a part of something bigger.