One of the most crucial aspects of responding to Jesus’ Great Commission, to “go and make disciples,” is the sharing of personal experiences.  Sometimes these are referred to as “resurrection stories” or “Easter stories,” and the idea is they illustrate how God is present to people, and how life changes when that relationship is embraced. 

A resurrection story currently “out there” is the one told by baseball player Josh Hamilton.  Several years ago, Josh was considered the best amateur baseball player in the country, and was signed to a contract by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, as the team was then known.  (They now are simply the Rays, having dropped “Devil” from their name prior to the current season.)  The team committed $3.5 million to Josh in order to get him into their organization.

Unfortunately, most of the money went up his nose and into his veins. 

Josh was a hopeless addict of cocaine, heroin, and alcohol.  It disrupted his baseball playing to the point he appeared only in 15 minor league games for the Rays before he was kicked out of baseball for violating rules related to substance abuse.  Meanwhile, his family struggled mightily as his addictions ruled Josh’s life.  His wife feared for her safety and that of the couple’s young daughter.

It took an admonition from his grandmother, who was repeating everything Josh heard from others through those years, before he finally accepted the challenge of sobriety.  As Josh explains in his resurrection story, “For some reason God allowed my heart to open up that night and see my grandmother’s eyes cry and see that in her face.  That’s what it took.”

Josh soon will mark three years of being sober, and as people familiar with baseball can attest, his comeback as a player is remarkable.  Anyone who watched the Home Run Hitting Contest prior to this year’s Major League All-Star Game saw quite a display by Josh, including a record 28 home runs in the first round of the competition.

Now, Josh takes advantage of opportunities to share his story and tell how God’s presence in his life gives him a new beginning.  He observes, “Obviously, the better you are, the more people are going to listen.  That’s the way the world is.  At the same time, if I wasn’t doing well, I’d still be talking about what God has done in my life.”

Further, Josh states, “Where I’m coming from is no different than a lot of people that have gone through the same struggles.  It’s just that I’ve got the platform to be able to share what I’ve gone through and how God brought me through it to hopefully inspire people that are going through the same things.”

Keep it up Josh.  I would add that we don’t have to be athletes or otherwise prominent people to share our resurrection stories.  Anyone with faith in God has a story to share.

What’s yours?  And who have you told?