Reflections on Josh Hamilton

I would have blogged about this earlier but I helped take a group of college students to a winter conference/retreat in Myrtle Beach, SC (which was amazing).  So now I'm getting around to it.  News broke Friday morning about Josh Hamilton having a relapse.  When I first heard the news there was little (and I mean very little) detail about what had happened because the news just broke.  It wasn't until later that I heard more and honestly until today that I got a "full" idea of what happened.

There has been a lot said this weekend, some good (there's a great article by Yahoo Sports writer Jeff Passan that was particularly good, you can read it here) while others were not.  For me personally, I felt bad for Josh.  I can only imagine what it must be like to try and deal with addictions to drugs and alcohol (I've never drank nor taken illegal drugs).

But I do know what it's like to struggle with sin.  We all have a sin problem.  None of us are immune to sin.  We are inclined to sin.  It is an addiction.  Even for those who follow Jesus, who trust in Him as their Lord and Savior like I do, there still is that sinful nature inside of us.  And as long as we are alive (or until Jesus comes back), it is something we will all continue to struggle with.  There are those days when the temptation to sin isn't that strong but then the temptation comes back strong.

We are not perfect.  We follow the one who is.  We are called to strive for perfection.  But God understands when we mess up.  He is willing and ready to accept us back when we acknowledge we mess up and repent.  And it's a day by day process.  Jesus told his disciples to deny themselves daily and take up their cross and follow Him.  We who follow Jesus have to die to ourselves daily and follow after Christ.

I pray for Josh and his family.  I pray that they continue to follow Christ and trust in Him during the good times and the bad.  And I hope that those of us that hear his story are reminded of Jesus and how He's willing to forgive us when we mess up and willing to take us back when we repent.