Comebacks Part II

Apparently I'm living in the wrong state to be a baseball fan. North Carolina, the home of the ultimate college basketball rivalry, Duke and UNC. People tend to give me weird looks when they realize I can talk about baseball for hours but simply fill out the March Madness brackets for fun. Plus the fact that I'm a girl adds to those weird looks. But that's besides the point.

I wrote a blog earlier in July about the MN Twins (my favorite team, hands down) and the comeback they were making. Now it's only a couple short weeks before the season is over and we're smack in the middle of the "Hunt for October" as people like to call it. And the push and the drive is still there. Our magic number is six. This is the number of Twins' wins and White Sox losses that will secure our post-season spot as the Wild Card. With 11 games left and at the pace we are going, it seems pretty plausible. And what's more, we're only 1/2 game out of the Central division behind the Tigers. So, we also have a shot at the division, something that seemed altogether impossible at before the Fourth of July.

Now, I don't want to count my chickens too early but it does seem that the Twins have staged the comeback we were all hoping and praying for and if anything, they have redeemed themselves of the dismal season start. So how about me? How is my "comeback" coming along?

I, like them, find myself in a place that was a bit unexpected considering how everything started out. To some extent, it is expected. I had good stats, I look decent on paper, and there were high expectations. And I already knew my destination, Charlotte. Now that I'm here, I find myself a part of something much larger than I had dreamed. As I step up to the plate and try and figure out what it is I need to swing at - buidling a young adults ministry, pioneering a new worship service, preaching my first "sermon series" sermon - I can't help but be a bit afraid I'm going to strike out. Was I worth all the hype I got in the minors? And I guess that's what it's all about, trying to live up to the plans God has for us knowing that he has more than enough grace for us when we fall short.

However, the batting average is good so far. The young adults small group has had a strong beginning, I finding the courage to reach out to others and extend invitations to people I've just met, my healing sermon went really well and got people excited to hear me preach on a larger level, and I'm all but adjusted to life here if you don't count the awful street system that makes it easy to get lost and hot weather.

So, have I made a comeback? I would say so but I also am nowhere near the post season yet. We'll jump that hurdle when it comes.