One year ago, I posted a card of Cubs legend Ernie Banks in anticipation of another great baseball season. I got up the next day and tuned in to watch the Opening Day of 2014. Then something weird happened to me. I asked myself a question that had never occured to me before: Why do I care so much about this? I had been a baseball fanatic for 25 years, watched games, read books, collected cards and discussed the game with everyone I met. But for whatever reason, on that day, it occured to me that I had wasted far too much time on something that did not matter.
So I gave up on baseball.
I didn’t buy cards. I didn’t watch MLB network or MLB highlights. I didn’t watch games on TV. I didn’t even follow the headlines. I watched the home run derby, All Star game one playoff game and game seven of the World Series on TV and was rather bored with them. I also went to two games in person because I had a friend in town. That’s it.
After the inital shock of giving up baseball set in I had another question: What am I going to do? I decided to try to write a book. I always wanted to write a book, but I did not have the mental focus to keep it going. This time, I decided to try writing a football book, and managed in eleven months to go from an idea to a 150 page manuscript. That was huge for me.
About a month ago, depression hit me so hard, I was even willing to give up the book I had worked so hard on. Then I went to a conference in my hometown. It was a Christian conference and while I grew up going to church, it was never real to me. That week I realized that God was more real than anything and dedicated my life to be his ambassador. Now that I have peace and joy in my life, I can now finish my book as well as other projects I have been working on. I don’t know if or when I will get back to blogging or baseball. If I do, it will not have the same priority as before. I pray for peace and joy for all of you reading this.
God bless,
Von
Von' Cards 