Josh Hamilton

Unbelievable. That's what I was thinking the whole time during the Home Run Derby last night. Sure....he didn't win, but does that honestly bother anyone? This kid who had wasted three years of God-given talent and a $4 Million signing bonus on heroine, cocaine, and alcohol put on the greatest spectacle that Yankee Stadium has ever seen - and it's had it's fair share of great spectacles: 26 World Championships; Don Larson's Perfect Game in the 1956 World Series; Ruth's 60 homers; Maris' 61 homers; Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle, Jackson, Jeter. And yet, perhaps the greatest moment of all came from a Non-Yankee - his name being chanted by the Yankee faithful. Unbelievable.

Add to all this the fact that his pitcher was a 71-year old American Legion Youth Baseball coach from Hamilton's home in South Carolina. Then there's the dream that Hamilton had - that he had just finished hitting in the Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium and was being interviewed - and reality happened just like the Dream. Unbelievable.

And yet, even as Josh Hamilton was crushing baseballs into the New York night, something much larger was on display: redemption. There is no greater story that I have seen which speaks to the power of God and the redemption of Sin found in Christ Jesus than Josh Hamilton. He had ruined his life; he says himself that there's no way he should still be alive. But God still had a plan for him.

On June 14, 2008 the shrine that is Yankee Stadium became a pulpit for the redeeming power of Almighty God. And Josh Hamilton made sure that everyone in the stadium and the nation knew that it wasn't about him - it was about the One who has saved Him. It was about the grace and forgiveness that God offers freely in Jesus Christ, the most unbelievable thing of all.