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 I am a firm believer that I have more regret in my life caused by the times that I have chosen to be way too tentative and overly cautious rather than just jump right in and “go for it” which, by the way, is much more my nature!  I don’t understand the value of committee meetings that take a wonderful idea that has so much potential and then just talk it to death and deflate it to the point that the best anyone can do with it when it is over is “table” it for another day!  I abhor the times in my walk when I seem to live more to just get by rather than attacking new challenges- and I wince when I recall all those “what could have been” moments if only I would have gone when the light turned a bright green!

Is swinging at a 3 balls and 0 strikes count a good idea?  Now most baseball coaches are going to blow a gasket over what I am about to share.  Any coach worth his weight is going to give his player the “take” sign- which means “don’t you dare swing”- which is also called giving the player the “red” light- when his batter is up there with such a delicious count. But I have always disagreed strongly with that philosophy!  I personally think that too many ballplayers allow too many hittable pitches go right on by them as they admire them with their bats cemented firmly upon their shoulders!

I think that when a hitter is ahead of a pitcher 3-0, the best bet for them is to be ready to swing away.  It is what is called giving the guy “a green light.”  The pitcher, who is already under some pressure to not walk the batter, is looking to throw a strike and most of the time he is going to offer something that lands right smack down the middle of the plate.  A pitcher thinking that the batter is going to be taking will more often than not serve up a lollipop on a silver platter and the sad thing is the batter can’t even partake of it if he wanted to because the coach has prematurely tied up his hands!  I say if it is a fat fastball then hit the living daylights out of it!  Don’t give up something great for something else that might never come again!

 How many ballgames have you seen where your guy takes a juicy pitch right down the middle at 3-0 and then will haphazardly swing at garbage on 3-1?  And then before you know it, the count is back to 3-2 and the advantage for the hitter is gone!  What are we waiting for if what we get is what we want?  I always approached the plate, when I was a player, as if I was never going to give myself a red light by taking a green light kind of offering!  Maybe I was called an aggressive hitter- but the key truth of it all was that I was a good hitter.  I hit the ball because I went up to the plate looking to swing the bat! 

 Life is too short to be sitting around when the light turns green! I am coming out against those who live with a looking for a “red light” mentality!  It is like they want to sit on the bench!  It is like the majority is satisfied to want to take a walk rather than go for the fences!  Jesus told his followers to “GO!”  The Lord challenged us to get out of our easy chairs and head into the entire world and go and be light and go and be salt and go and make a difference and go and love people just like He would!  He inspired us to be doers of His word and not merely those who read it and then ignore it a few minutes later!  It is like we Christians are satisfied to just read the book and not star in the movie!  As Senator Robert Kennedy once said, “Some men see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say why not?”  I say now that is living with a green light mentality!

 I want to be wise and I want to be smart, but I also don’t want to be looking for excuses to not do something- but to pursue it with everything that is within me!  I want to live and if I lose- I want to strike out swinging and not because I was afraid to try!  Is there something right now that is eating away at you and you have kicked your heart in neutral when you should be in overdrive?  Are you rationalizing about something you should be running full speed ahead after?  Faith believes that what God leads you into, He will take care of you all the way through!  No, you might not have all your pieces in place- but isn’t that why they call it faith- because there must be room for God to show up?  Is God giving you a green and you are reading it as red?  Are you guilty of an over analysis paralysis?  It is funny to me that most of the critics up in the broadcast booth couldn’t hit the broad sign of the barn on a windy day with the breeze blowing in the right direction!  I am not in it to do it like they would do it!  I am up there swinging for the light is green and the day is here and it is our moment to make or break a miracle!  What color are you seeing today?