Adios Cards, the Future looks Bright!

What a difference a year makes, or should I say, it almost made! I still remember the heroics of David Freeze cranking key hits and Chris Carpenter pitching  key wins to crown the Cardinals as World Champions in 2011!  There were lots of similarities between the STL Cardinals of 2011 and the team of 2012.  The biggest difference is the outcome. :(  The SF Giants pulled out a huge comeback over the Cards from a 3-1 deficit to win the last three games and move onto the World Series.  They look more like last year's Cardinals than this year's team.  The shame of their lousy losses are now gobbled up in the drama of the Tigers and Giants.
Now they look to next year.  Young arms and young talent were called upon to fill injured spots in this year's club.  Optimistic talk has already crafted the expectation for this team to keep playing into next November. There will be new faces as once again the old and fragile, the "too expensive to keep" will be replaced with hopefuls for the future. 
So it is with life's ebbs and flows.  The tears and sadness are healed through the hope that tomorrow will be better.  We get too caught up with the emotion of the moment to clearly see that there may be a better outcome than we could ever imagine.  I must be self-aware enough to catch my reaction that could easily add more tension to a situation than may already exist.
Our  October core virtue was "Self-Control" and we honored those students who reflected it in our assembly today.   Proverbs 25:28 states, "A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls."  We are defenseless to deal with life's challenges without tapping in this critical "Fruit of the Spirit"( Galatians 5:22).  I pray to be able to compete in the game in life, exercising self-control in all things.

By the way... in defense of this team... what other professional team at any level could...

• loose the best player in baseball (Albert Pujols) - arguably
• have their hall of fame coaches Tony LaRussa and Dave Duncan retire
• play under a rookie manager with no major league coaching experience
• Loose their ace pitcher for 95% of the season ( Chris Carpenter)
• Loose their key defensive player in the infield to injury half way through the season (Furcal)
• Not have the services of the key player who kept the clubhouse together (Lance Berkman)
•  and be one game away from returning to the World Series!