Bush Man

I thought our tour of San Fran, Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 was going to end without seeing the infamous "bush man". Fortunately, one block away from where we were parked we ran into a large crowd just standing around with cameras drawn. It was him!!

The concept is simple. A man sits on the street with two bushes and scares people as they walk by. He then stands up and asks for donations.

I did not count his collection, but based on the outpouring support of the people near us he makes more in a day than I do.

Enjoy the video.

Sharing with others.........

On Monday we met just prior to leaving for a doubleheader down in Monterey and Bruce led the guys in a training session on how to share your faith. He did a great job in relating ways to "break the ice" and how to walk your way through sharing your faith with others. We met for about 45 minutes and then traveled down to beat the Monterey Bay Sox 5-1 and 12-1. It was a great day!

Our families(Gillespie/Beck) and host families made the trip down and watched some good baseball in outstanding weather. It was good to have a large contingency of "AIA Fans" watching us play. The host families are really great here in the Gilroy/Morgan Hill/San Martin area. They really greet and make the players and families feel at home. The host family concept is working well here in this part of California.

Quinn Clair met with the Bay Sox and passed out some brochures after the doubleheader. Quinn is a returner from last year's team and is originally from Oregon. Quinn and Nick Crawford are the first two I pick up each morning on my van route. Each staff member has about 4-6 players we pick up each day. Along with Quinn and Nick, I have Tobias Streich, Kevin Winn, Tim Urbanowicz and Cody Brown. Quinn is from Cuesta College, Nick is from UAB, Tobias is from West Virginia, Kevin is from La. Tech, Tim is from Wheaton and Cody is from Liberty Univ. I hope to introduce them all as the summer progresses.

We met for discipleship again this morning just before lunch and then traveled back to Valley for an afternoon practice.

On Wednesday we take the day off and travel in for a tour of San Fran and then off to Oakland for the A's and Yankees. Should be another good day.

I added some more photos from our trip to Monterey Bay/Pebble Beach/Carmel, you may see this by clicking here.

Electric.......

Saturday night we played our first game of the season up in Marysville, California against the Yuba Sutter Sox and won 5-4. It was an incredible atmosphere as 3, 360 fans were in attendance.

The Sox were holding "faith night" and had a christian band in concert just after our batting practice and about 45 minutes before the game. Former MLB pitcher Dave Dravecky was in attendance and presented an award to a young fan and then gave his testimony after the game. It was a great venue and the game was exciting as we held off a late rally by the Sox in the bottom of the ninth to hold on for the win.

It was also our first opportunity to meet with another team and that was an impressive sight to see about 50 college players meeting under a single tent to hear Chris Beck's testimony and Bruce share with the guys.

It was a very unique experience to meet with the other team and share the gift that Jesus Christ will provide if we accept him as a our personal savior. I am really looking forward to the other games and devotions we will have this summer.

We went to the local host Church today, West Hills in Morgan Hill, California. It was a packed service with no open seats. Our entire team was in attendance for the message. It was good to meet with some of the individuals that are making the host family process a success.

We had the rest of the day off and my family and I took in some sight-seeing. We headed south down Hwy 101, then to the famous Hwy 1 route and viewed some of the most incredible landscaping I have ever come in contact with.

I hope to have the photos up soon as we went to The Fisherman's Wharf and Monterey Bay. We then continued down the winding coast line and visited Pebble Beach, what an awesome course! The trip ended with some beach time at Carmel. Not much water time though, it was freezing.

It has been a very good day and I am anticipating another great day tomorrow. We will head back to Monterey Bay for a doubleheader in the afternoon.

Catching up......

Ok, I missed posting yesterday but I had a good reason. Adjusting to the time change has been rough. Kirkland and I seem to be struggling the most as we wake up way too early and just can't get back to sleep. Last night was tough, although I have to admit having the window open next to our bed was great. I can only imagine how humid it would be doing that back home in SC. Check out the photo to the left, it is our view each morning as the sun comes up and yes, the sun comes up everyday with hardly any clouds. We only have about 9 days left of this view before we head to Alaska. We will miss this area, but we must carry on.

We have been meeting the last two days at 9am for discipleship training, eating lunch around 11:30am and then heading to the field for a 1pm practice. Bruce has been leading some really good devotional and training sessions for everyone. Bruce is a member of the AIA staff and is headquartered at the University of Michigan. He is doing a great job working with the entire team and with the guys on an individual basis. This morning he worked with the guys on their testimony and how to prepare/share it with others. He is just one of several we have here with us in California, I will being you up to speed on everyone else as the days go by.

Practice has been going good as well. We practice at a local high school and the field is amazing. It has a turf infield/oufield, but the amazing part is the view. This photo does not come close to doing it justice and I don't have the words to describe the view. Standing out at second base you can see the hills behind home plate.

We have our first game on Saturday as we travel about 2.5 hours to Yuba City. We will take batting practice around 5:30pm then enjoy a concert sponsored by the Christian Business Alliance. Former MLB pitcher Dave Dravecky will be in attendance as well and free Bibles will be handed out to those in attendance. It should be a great trip and a large crowd is expected.

Click here to view some photos from the trip. More to come later...........

Day Three......Shuttle Bus

Today was "shuttle day" as members of the staff took vans to the San Jose Airport to pick up the players. We guys started arriving around 1015am and will conclude sometime later this weekend. The majority of guys will be in tonight, but about 4-5 are coming in late due to post-season and other various reasons.

It was good to meet the guys that will be sharing, learning and growing in Christ. This group will also be challenged on the diamond as the summer league is a grind, with long bus trips, late nights and more fast food than anyone cares to think about. It's still the best game in town!

We start up at 9am on Thursday with a "ground rules" session, discipleship training, lunch, practice, dinner then back to the host families for a little rest before it starts all over on Friday. It will be exciting meeting the guys tomorrow and seeing them in their environment. They seem to be anxious as I am.

Tammy, Kirkland and Kaylee went out to Santa Cruz Beach and the Boardwalk, the only major seaside amusement park on the west coast. I don't think they even knew I was missing. They seemed to really enjoy the day.

We are all slowly getting on west coast time. The first night Kirkland and I woke up at 4:15am and could not get back to sleep. We were wide awake, it was incredible.

Well, off to finish some work before turning in for the night. Each coach is responsible for picking up some players each morning from their host family. I have three stops to make and I need to Google them before the sun comes up.

Before I go I wanted to start something new each day and provide a "story of the day". Among many stories to tell, this will give one of the funniest/strangest/odd stories of the day and best of all it is true.
Tuesday-You can get sunburn in 70 degree weather and no humidity. Trust me I know....we were working outside packing bags and my head got fried. It just sneaks up on you. It was great to work outside in June and not sweat though!!
Wednesday- One of our players was delayed in Atlanta because an FAA official was flying in and deemed the stickers on the emergency exit as too faded. They had to exit the plane, wait 2 hours then re-board. Let's hope they take better care of the landing gear than they do the instruction stickers for the exits!!

Well, off to Google some directions then turning in for the night.

Getting settled in......

The flight from Atlanta to San Fran was great and that's coming from an inexperienced flyer that hates to fly. I was told it was good that we were on the wing, helped with stability, but limited our view down below. I will take that trade-off any day.

The view was great. I hope to have photos soon loaded on this site and another one as well. It is amazing to see God's country that high up. The Rockies were incredible, neat to see snow in June.

We arrived in San Fran and met up with some AIA staff then headed off to our host family. The Craig's are very nice people and extremely open with their home. They live in a beautiful section of California called Gilmore....garlic capitol of the world according to the flags and signs all over. The fruit here is amazing as is the weather. Mid 70's and no humidity. The landscape is something I have never seen before, photos to be loaded soon.

We had a staff meeting earlier this morning and then prepared the bags for the players. They will arrive on Wednesday throughout the day starting at 9am going until about 5pm. It will be a longday shuttling them from the airport to the their host families, but will give some time to start building relationships.

We had our "last supper" tonight with the other members of the staff. After tonight the guys come in and the fun starts. Remember them on Wednesday as they fly in from all over the country. We have a great group that seems to be passionate about lives being changed and baseball. What a great combo!!

Kicking it off right............

Thanks to my cousin who lives in Alpharetta we just got treated to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Great way to start the trip off!! Thanks, Trav......

We are in Atlanta spending the night right near the airport so we can get an early start in the morning.

For everyone following along.....I am guessing about 3 people, 5 once my parents get connected to DSL on Tuesday, are checking this blog out. For those of you out there we all say "thanks" for sharing this journey with us.

I will try and give updates as much as possible and also include some of the other players/coaches/family that are traveling with us. It's going to be a great time and I know God will have tons in store for us.

That's all for tonight, it is time to get the kids in bed....early to rise!