Stretching is good

We returned from our trip to the beautiful North Carolina area on Tuesday, but it was a couple of weeks too early. We really like that area; it is hard to come home.

The Southern League All-Star game was pretty interesting. We wanted to watch our Suns players who made to the All-Stars this year: Juan Gonzalez, Adam Godwin, Lucas May, James McDonald, Russell Mitchell, and Jesus Castillo.

Jesus is the pitcher we sponsor on the Suns, so we were especially anxious to see how he did. He seemed nervous before the game, so I am not sure he knew what to expect. Anyway, he had 2 people on base when the next hitter, Chris Coughlin, (who ended up with the MVP because of this play) had a 3 RBI home run. Then Jesus went on to be the only pitcher of the night to strike out the side. (At all-star games, the pitchers only pitch one inning.) The other Suns players did all right. Nothing special. The Northern division won as per usual.

Ivan deJesus, Jr. was a 2nd baseman on the world team Future game. He got on base a couple of times, but he was picked off when he tried to steal. That was a little painful. The World team shut out the American team.

It made me think about how we get used to our present level of activity. When we watch the Suns, we see certain players outshine their team mates and their opponents. Then when they are in a different venue, they are not as spectacular as they are in their comfort zone.

I think we are all like this. We accomplish what we think is our best given our current circumstances. When we put ourselves in the next level, we realize we need to stretch a little more. Until we get into that new, more difficult environment, we have no realization that more is possible, or even needed.

Stretching is good. Unfortunately, we resist it with every fiber of our being.