The One Who Loves Me is Cheering Me On

Hey, everyone!

Hope your Friday is beginning as a praise-filled, thanks-filled day! (Now that I think about it, I can hope for that all I want, but whether or not your day has praise and thanks in it, is kinda up to you!) A little needed rain today and then…weather-wise, FALL'S HERE!! October brings so much awesomeness! Beeeautiful foliage, crisp, blue skies and…baseball play-offs! 

It's started, folks! 

I'm not sure how it happened, but I don't really have a favorite team this year…

Wait! Oh, yeah...

I know how it happened. 

Next, years, Bravos!

Sigh. 

Anyhooo…

Actually, I like lots of the teams in the play-offs! I'm glad the Angels are in it! I like the Cardinals! The Dodgers are awesome and Kershaw is awesome to the 10th power! Kansas City hasn't been in it since before Vin Scully's voice changed in junior high! I like the Giants. I'd like 'em more if Pablo Sandoval didn't dip so much! (He spit on his own jersey during an "at bat" the other night! Gross!) 

If the Giants get discouraged today against the Washington Nationals, they have a secret weapon of

encouragement…

Hunter Pence! 

He's their right fielder and his main contribution is just bein' pumped! It's  100 mph, all the time! His eyes are wide, his socks are outside his pants and pulled up over his knees almost to his belt buckle,  and if he goes down, it's swinging'! He runs kinda funny, but fast! One reporter wrote, "When he runs to first base, he looks like a three-legged deer fleeing a forest fire. Then, on defense, he’s in right field, loose and limber, composed, and then the ball get hit out his way and, oh #%$@!, the forest is on fire again!!"

So if a guy's infusing enthusiasm into his team, what are you going to do to stop it? 

Discourage him, of course!

That's kind of what's happening across the country. There's a national campaign to discourage Hunter Pence.

It started in New York against the Mets back on the first of August. A couple of fans from Queens were spotted on camera with hand-painted signs, insulting Hunter Pence. One said, "Hunter Pence eats piazza with a fork!" The other bore a slanderous accusation apparently all New Yorkers would recognize. 

"Hunter Pence puts ketchup on his hot dogs!" 

In the Big Apple, nobody does that!  If you are thinking of squeezing that particular condiment on your dog, fahgetaboutit!

Then someone retweeted pictures of those signs. And the rest is history! 860 re-tweets in the first week! Then, everywhere the Giants played all August and September (except at home in AT&T Park) the fans held up disparaging signs, insulting Hunter! Mostly they imply that he is a health nut (he follows the Paleo-diet) and a dork…

Stuff like (and these are real, folks!)...

"Hunter Pence wears sandals with socks"

"Hunter Pence has sharknado insurance"

"Hunter Pence likes Godfather 3"

"Hunter Pence returns his library books on time"

"Hunter Pence takes 13 items to the express lane"

"Hunter Pence still has a Blockbuster card"

"Hunter Pence makes his girl friend watch the Weather Channel for fun"

Hunter Pence hates bacon" 

"Hunter Pence DVDs reruns of Full House"

"Hunter Pence remembered your birthday without Facebook"

"Hunter Pence wishes all Hunter Pence signs were in comic sans" (I don't get that one.)

"Hunter Pence knows where Waldo is"

"Hunter Pence never skips commercials on recorded shows"

I'm not sure how he's making it. I'd be striking out every time if I was being slandered and insulted everyday. 

Thankfully…

You have Someone Who is cheering you on all the time! Your Lord is your "#1 Fan"! He thinks infinitely more of you than you think of yourself! I remember the time when John the Baptist had been arrested and was waiting for the trial he never got. He must have been so down and disheartened! He was probably thinking to himself...

"So, it all ends like this? I must have messed this up royally! I guess I shoulda kept my opinion about Herod's dating choices to myself! Now look where I am! Can't preach anymore! Can't help anyone! I wonder what my Lord thinks of this! …of me!"

And just at that same time, Jesus was talking to others about His friend, John! Know what He really thought? (In the end it's not your opinion of yourself that matters, but His of you!)

Check it…

"Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist…" (Matt:11:11)

Not a sign that said, "John the Baptist eats bugs" or "John the Baptist can't tie my shoes" but simple this: "No one greater!"

Wow!

If I could just see myself the way Jesus sees me, I still might strike out every single time, but I wouldn't even care! The One Who loves me most is cheering me on!