The Long Way Back

In 1999, Josh Hamilton was baseball's most celebrated prospect — the first overall pick in the MLB Draft, destined for greatness. But within two years, he had surrendered everything to crack cocaine and alcohol. He lost his career, his family, his health. At his lowest, he was living in a trailer, broke and broken.

Then something changed. Through his grandmother's prayers and the persistence of people who refused to give up on him, he surrendered his life to Christ. Slowly, painfully, the pieces began to come back together.

Hamilton made his major league debut in 2007 — at age 26, years behind schedule, carrying the weight of every wasted day. By 2010, he was named the American League Most Valuable Player. But it was the 2008 All-Star Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium that stopped the world. Hamilton hit 28 home runs in a single round, the crowd rising to its feet for a man no one had expected to see again.

After each blast, he pointed skyward. He spoke openly about his faith wherever he played — this was not a comeback story, he said. It was God's story.

That is what redemption looks like. Not the erasing of the past, but the reclaiming of it — the Almighty taking the wreckage of broken years and weaving them into something the world cannot ignore. Whatever has been lost or squandered, you are not beyond the reach of the One who redeems.