Worst to First

I was reading this week about Cal Ripken's record. You know which one I'm talking about: He played 2632 consecutive baseball games. This is a record that may never be broken; he will always be remembered as a legend in the game.

Many sports records are set when a player gets on a hot streak – he has a good game or a good month or even a good season. Ripken's record is the result of a 'hot streak' that lasted more than 16 years. Day after day he simply took the next step in the right direction, one game at a time.

Something many people don't know about Ripken is that during his first year as a pro – while playing minor league ball in West Virginia – he made his mark in a different way: he committed a league-leading 33 errors at short-stop. Not a good start, and since his dad was already well-known in baseball circles, many pundits said he was just over-rated kid, not good enough for life in the big leagues.

But Cal kept taking one more step in the right direction, one game at a time. Later in his career he went 95 consecutive games without making an error, and committed only three in an entire season – another record he holds. Ripken's habit of taking one more step led him through his own "worst to first" journey.

It's a journey you can take, too. God wants to pour out his grace in your life. He wants to change you through and through. He wants to give you victory over sin, and the power to live the life of your dreams?

Right now, if you feel like you're the worst, he wants to help you move in the direction of becoming first.