I usually don’t win stuff very often. I won a video game Madden football tournament one time at a Walmart. Our high school marching band won a state championship in 1996 (Go Marching Rockets!). I also once won a raffled Sammy Sosa bat…back when it was cool to win a raffled Sammy Sosa bat.
Well, I can add one more milestone to that list. On October 5th, I won the 2022 Saints Prison Ministry Fantasy Baseball League! After months and months of getting up early and making my best guess who would play well every day, I came away with the championship!
How do you win at fantasy baseball? I’m glad you asked. Here are my secrets to success:
Focus your early draft on proven home run and RBI guys.
Don’t waste good draft picks on closers.
Pitch and ditch starting pitching.
Punt stolen bases. This isn’t 1983 for crying out loud...
The one thing that made the championship extra special was getting to spend the day with the guy you’re playing against in the championship game!
The Illinois and Wisconsin Saints left Tuesday night and met up in Indianapolis. The following morning we drove to our meeting spot in Ohio. While we were waiting for the Georgia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and West Virginia parts of the team to arrive, we enjoyed a nice breakfast/lunch at the local Waffle House.
Shortly after our meal, the rest of the team arrived and we were off to our first prison of the trip. We arrived at Lebanon CI on time and we were greeted by an excited group of guys who were thrilled to have an outside group come in. I was the third base coach and we had a heckler talking heckling us until we won our first game. (If we would have known how the rest of the week went, we probably would have enjoyed that win a little more!)
In between games, Nick Sauder shared his testimony and Brent Gerber shared the Gospel. I didn’t really have a standout conversation during our ministry time. Nick and Brent are both part of our Illinois team and have done a good job of sharing testimonies and the Gospel all year long.
After our sharing time, we started the second game of the day. It was a tough game and we ultimately tied the other team because yard time was called.
At the conclusion of our game, we went back to the hotel and got cleaned up before our team meal. We went to a local restaurant called Boston’s and I ordered the pizza burger…which was incredible! During our meal, I was fortunate to sit across from Adam Blankenship from the West Virginia team. All year long we had been battling it for the top spots in our fantasy baseball league. Adam wasn’t originally planning to be on this trip but due to some unforeseen circumstances, he was added to our roster at the last minute. Tonight was the last night of the regular season and this was the championship week for our league. I had a pretty good lead when we sat down to eat but Adam wasn’t completely done yet. During the meal, my fantasy first baseman, Matt Olson, hit a home run which gave me a sizable lead over Adam and that iced my victory over Adam!
After our meal, we went back to our hotel for devotions. Our coach, Wes Brown, lead the devotions and used 1 Peter 3:13-17 as our passage for the trip.
1 Peter 3:13-17- 13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” 15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 17 For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
Tonight’s devotion focused on verses 13 and 14. We talked about our eagerness to share the Gospel in prison but how we are sometimes shy about sharing it with family members or those we work with. These were a couple of really good verses for us to cover because I know that I really struggle with the fear of man and it was comforting to see the rest of the room share that fear as well. It was a helpful reminder that God tells us not to be frightened or to fear suffering. We also reminded each other that we aren’t promised a set number of years so we don’t know how often we will have an opportunity to share the Gospel with those around us.
Overall during our trip to Lebanon we handed out 115 Gospels of John and had 6 men make decisions to follow the Lord.
