Ethan D. Bryan - Striking Out ALS: A Heros Tale

Striking Out ALS: A Heros Tale

By Ethan D. Bryan

Copyright 2013 by Ethan D. Bryan

Cover Copyright 2013 by Brett Kesinger and eLectio Publishing

Cover Design by Brett Kesinger

The author is hereby established as the sole holder of the copyright. Either the publisher (eLectio Publishing) or author may enforce copyrights to the fullest extent.

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be resold, reproduced or transmitted by any means in any form or given away to other people without specific permission from the author and/or publisher. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please return it to your eBook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

eLectio Publishing wishes to thank the following people who helped make these publications possible through their generous contributions:

Chuck & Connie Greever

Jay Hartman

Darrel & Kimberly Hathcock

Tamera Jahnke

Amanda Lynch

Pamela Minnick

James & Andrea Norby

Gwendolyn Pitts

Margie Quillen

Other titles from eLectio Publishing:

Tales of the Taylor: Songs that Changed the World by Ethan D. Bryan

Learning to Give in a Getting World by Marcus R. Farnell, Jr. and Jesse S. Greever

At the Back of His Mind by T. Marcus Christian

Never Prosper by T. Marcus Christian

The Wall & Beyond by Joanna Kurowska

Drunk Dialing the Divine by Amber Koneval

The Advent of the Messiah: Finding Peace, Love, Joy, and Hope in a Modern World by Tony Turner

More From Life: 99 Truths to Understand and Live By by Christopher C. Dixon

Living to Give in a Getting World by Marcus R. Farnell, Jr. and Jesse S. Greever

Anabel Unraveled by Amanda Romine Lynch

The Sons of Hull: Book One of the Advocate Trilogy by Lindsey Scholl

Absolute Positivity: An Inspirational Story of Positivity, Prayer, and People by Karl B. Sanger

Hunger by R. H. Welcker

www.eLectioPublishing.com

INTRODUCTION

God whispered me into being.

Thats how my friend Benson the Writer taught me to think in his books. Ive been whispered into being by a God who knows me fully and invites me to join his mission of bringing heaven to earth. My job, according to Benson, is to love God and others and simply be the me that God whispered, which, frankly, is very, very hard to do.

Some days the whispered me would much rather be the Alex Gordon, Rob Bell, Derek Webb, or Thomas Merton, who have also been whispered into being and seem to live such amazing stories with their entrusted gifts. The whispered me struggles and wrestles with loving neighbors and loving self. The whispered me has doubts and unanswerable questions about this journey of faith, hope, and love. The whispered me wants to be a great husband and father, but feels constrained by the enormous debt of student loans and exhausted by the ceaseless demands of daily life. The whispered me knows Jesus said something about having life to the full and that it had nothing to do with the latest technological innovation and everything to do with Gods kingdom come on earth (John 10:10, NIV).

If God whispered me into being then he knows full well the bizarre and eccentric ideas that tend to consume my imagination for extended periods of time. When I was five years old, I was obsessed with being Batman. I didnt just think that Batman was cool. No, I wanted to be Batman; to have the car and the mask and the muscles and brains. And that was just the beginning of the ideas.

For a week in high school I wanted to fly in the Air Force. This was more or less influenced by a video game, the movie Top Gun , and a family vacation where we visited the Air Force Academy. This idea quickly passed when I learned that my vision was not good enough to actually be a pilot.

The singular idea, however, that has consumed my imagination for the majority of my breathing days on this planet is that of being a baseball player. In fourth grade, I went to a church camp and listened to a speaker tell me that my chances of playing baseball professionally were about one-half of one percent. My then-best-friend Kyle and I looked at each other and knew we were both going to make it; we were both the one-half percent. I breathed baseball, playing it every chance I gotattending camps, taking lessons, and practicing daily with Dad in the street. Whenever I traveled, whether going on vacation with my family or to youth camp with my church, I always packed my glove and a couple of baseballs. The statistics and stories of my favorite team and players filled my memory; their baseball cards decorated the bookshelves in my bedroom.

But I stopped playing baseball competitively when I was sixteen. My favorite team won the World Series only a few years prior; I watched every post-season inning. There were no more lessons, no more practices, no more trying on the latest designs in baseball cleats. Trips to the baseball card store also stopped. Two years later, as a collegiate freshman, I heard a whisper say, Come and follow me, and I started preparing for a life and vocation in the ministry without having a clue what that really meant.

I met Jamie at the Baptist Student Union at then-Southwest Missouri State University, now Missouri State University, and fell in love. During my last semester in college we married and we have faithfully shared the fullness of life through the struggles of seminary and working in churches for fifteen years. We have two incredible daughters we are trying to raise, helping them be who God whispered them to be while navigating the murky waters of social media, peer pressure, and, now, the re-birth of my crazy dream: I still want to play baseball.

We lived near Kansas City, Missouri when I first learned of the Royals Alumni Fantasy Camp. Fantasy Camp, for me, is a glimpse of heaven on earth. It is one week of playing baseball alongside those who played professionally, wearing a jersey with my name on the back, and being treated as a friend and peer. Fantasy Camp is hosted at the Royals Spring Training facility in Surprise, Arizona.

Last year, my friend Mark and I spent two days walking and watching the Royals play and practice at this beautiful baseball complex; I imagined myself being on the field with them. Ever since, Ive been hoping for Surprise.

A few months ago my family moved back to Springfield, Missouri, after being away for fifteen years. Jamie and I left Springfield for seminary in Texas shortly after our first anniversary; we were back in time to celebrate my 38 th birthday. Most professional ballplayers retire before they reach 38, though there are a few exceptions. Baseball is a grueling and grinding game. The journey of the 162-game season takes its toll on both bodies and minds. Athletes at the professional level learn to play through the pain and still perform consistently at an amazing level. As soon as we hit Springfield city limits, I started trying to find a way back into baseball. There is (at least) one major hurdlemy arm is practically dead.

For the vast majority of daily activities, my arm is perfectly fine. I can strum my guitar, wash dishes, and change the channel on the remote without any difficulties whatsoever. But over the course of everyday life, baseball muscles arent maintained. The circular motion of throwing, the torque on the elbow and shoulder, the flexibility of legs and hips just dont play a part in the daily grind unless you work at Lamberts, Home of the Throwed Rolls . I knew if I was ever going to make it to Surprise and enjoy my experiences there that Id have to get back in baseball shape. And thats where this journey starts.