Hello World, I'm Josh Hamilton and Jesus is my Savior

If you are a baseball fan you have surely heard of Josh Hamilton. He was drafted number one in the Major League Baseball draft in 1999. Being the number one pick it does not seem that odd that Josh Hamilton is having an MVP type year and was selected to the All Start Game as a starter. It does not seem odd that Josh Hamilton was the star of last night's Home Run Derby.

But there is a dark side to this story. Josh Hamilton's life was ruined by alcohol and heroine. He was banned from baseball. For three years he had absolutely nothing to do with the game. His life was in the toilet. All his talent and ability he threw it away. Such a looser.

But listen to what happened next in Josh's own words:

Aside from our struggles as a team, this season has been a dream for me. And that's fitting, because in a way I had to learn how to dream all over again. When I was using, I never dreamed. I'd sleep the dead, dreamless sleep of a stalled brain. When I stopped using, I found my dreams returned. They weren't always good dreams; most of the ones I remember were haunting and dark. They stayed with me long after I woke up.

Within my first week of sobriety in October 2005 -- after I showed up at my grandmother's house in Raleigh in the middle of the night, coming off a crack binge -- I had the most haunting dream. I was fighting the devil, an awful-looking thing. I had a stick or a bat or something, and every time I hit the devil, he'd fall and get back up. Over and over I hit him, until I was exhausted and he was still standing.

I woke up in a sweat, as if I'd been truly fighting, and the terror that gripped me makes that dream feel real to this day. I'd been alone for so long, alone with the fears and emotions I worked so hard to kill. I'm not embarrassed to admit that after I woke up that night, I walked down the hall to my grandmother's room and crawled under the covers with her. The devil stayed out of my dreams for seven months after that. I stayed clean and worked hard and tried to put my marriage and my life back together. I got word in June 2006 that I'd been reinstated by Major League Baseball, and a few weeks afterward, the devil reappeared.

It was the same dream, with an important difference. I would hit him and he would bounce back up, the ugliest and most hideous creature you could imagine. This devil seemed unbeatable; I couldn't knock him out. But just when I felt like giving up, I felt a presence by my side. I turned my head and saw Jesus, battling alongside me. We kept fighting, and I was filled with strength. The devil didn't stand a chance.

You can doubt me, but I swear to you I dreamed it. When I woke up, I felt at peace. I wasn't scared. To me, the lesson was obvious: Alone, I couldn't win this battle. With Jesus, I couldn't lose.

***** I GET cravings sometimes, and I see it as the devil trying to catch me in a weak moment. The best thing I can do is get the thought out of my mind as soon as I can, so it doesn't turn into an obsession. When it happens, I talk to him. I talk to the devil and say, "These are just thoughts, and I'm not going to act on them." When I talk like that, when I tell him he's not going to get the best of me, I find the thought goes away sooner.

Believe it or not, talking to the devil is no harder to explain than many other experiences I've had since that day last December when my life changed. I was working for my brother's tree service in Raleigh, sending limbs through a chipper, when I found out I'd been selected by the Cubs and traded to the Reds in the Rule 5 draft.

But there is one story that sticks with me, so much so that I think of it every day. I was driving out of the players' parking lot at Great American Ball Park after a game in May, with Katie and our two girls. There's always a group of fans standing at the curb, hoping to get autographs, and I stop to sign as many as I can.

And on this particular night, a little boy of about 9 or 10, wearing a Reds cap, handed me a pen and something to sign. Nothing unusual there, but as I was writing the boy said, "Josh, you're my savior."

This stopped me. I looked at him and said, "Well, thank you. Do you know who my savior is?"

He thought for a minute. I could see the gears turning. Finally, he smiled and blurted out, "Jesus Christ." He said it like he'd just come up with the answer to a test. "That's exactly right," I said.

You see, I may not know how I got here from there, but every day I get a better understanding of why.

Last night was incredible. The Legend of Josh Hamilton was born. He set a record 28 home runs in one round of the home run derby. At least three of his home runs were recorded as the top ten longest home runs in the history of the competition. More than 53,000 fans at Yankee stadium began chanting the name of this player from a rival team.

But best of all, on ESPN on national TV Josh Hamilton gave credit to Jesus Christ for saving his life. Way to go Josh! Thank you for your testimony. I sure wish the Cubs would not have given you away.

Here was a comment about the performance that I read on You Tube. Sums it up well:

"I have been watching baseball my whole life, when I saw Josh hit these homeruns, then follow it all up with giving thanks to His Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Maybe the best day in baseball for me of all time. Do you see the calmness in his eyes? Those are the eyes of a man that does not fear death, rather is so confident that when he passes from this world he will be with Jesus it radiates in his face.God bless you Josh. Glad to see you saw the light, glad to see you praise Jesus on national TV"