That’s the title of one of my numerous photo albums on Facebook.

It’s also part of living inside the testimony. This testimony is actually my youngest child’s pursuit of a college baseball scholarship.

Allow me to digress for just a moment for those who have not visited my website before.

I’m a nurse by profession, author by passion, and storyteller by the grace of God. My desire is to help readers discover that we all live inside testimonies meant to be shared to help inspire and encourage others. You’ll find yourself laughing, crying, rejoicing, and soul-searching all at the same time as my books take you on a roller coaster of emotions and self-enlightenment. Discover the inspiration, faith, hope, humor, and love we all have in common. I share my own personal testimony in the first book, and the remarkable testimony of others in all the books that follow.

Living Inside The Testimony® is actually my trademark. I really do “own” it. So why didn’t I realize my baby boy was living inside his very own testimony?

Brandon has been playing ball every year since he was a 5 year-old kindergartner.

Brandon Collier – Ellendale Little League T-ball (5 years old)

Like many parents, we thought he would enjoy playing different sports. His first sport was basketball, and that’s where he earned the nickname Speedy. He was so fast running down the basketball court that his coach simply started calling him Speedy. Later that year, he started playing T-ball too, and somehow the nickname just stuck with him. After all, he had been running ever since he learned how to walk. He had been jumping, and climbing, and defeating the laws of gravity ever since he was a toddler. He scaled my kitchen cabinets like spiderman and then sat on top of the counter when he was only one. He leaped across the living room from the sofa to the love seat, and I caught him in mid-air once to prevent what surely would have been a terrible head injury as he jumped from a chair toward our brick hearth before he even turned two.

Fast forward 12 years, and Brandon is now a 17 year-old senior in high school whose dream is to earn a college baseball scholarship. He wants to major in Business Management and perhaps follow in his dad’s footsteps and own his own business one day.

Brandon Collier, Bolton High School Varsity Outfielder, Class of 2017

He’s still Speedy too. Just take a look at this video composed of several short clips of some of Brandon’s high school games which I thought would serve as my personal memories only. Little did I know that I would use these same “home videos” to create part of Brandon’s online recruiting profile for college coaches, recruiters, and scouts to view. On the video, he’s the one batting and/or running bases.

Okay, since this is a blog and not another book, I’ll try to be brief and get to my main point… 🙂

Whether Brandon earns a baseball scholarship or not, whether he ever plays baseball beyond his senior year of high school or not, and whether baseball doesn’t take him anywhere other than where he’s already been, Brandon knows life will go on with or without baseball. He will still go to college. He will still have a career. He will still become the man GOD created him to be. College baseball is a dream. If this dream doesn’t come true, all he has to do is dream of something else. It’s all part of living inside the testimony. Baseball is part of his testimony; it’s part of his life, but it’s not his whole life. It has taken him places he otherwise would not have gone. Being part of a team and the life lessons learned on the baseball field will serve him well later in life.

However, I most certainly do believe he will get a baseball scholarship. He believes that too. I also believe Jesus died on the cross to save me from my sin, and I will spend eternity in heaven. He believes that too. I believe we were all created for a purpose, our lives should glorify and magnify our Creator, and we all live inside testimonies meant to be shared to help encourage and inspire others. I believe he’s too young to fully understand that although he does understand people are watching him. His life is a testimony, so wherever baseball takes him, it’s all part of the journey.

One of the first projects he had for school this year was to create a small poster with a picture of himself and 10 words to describe who he is. Along with 10 adjectives, he included this picture of his favorite scripture:

Count the words in the scripture. Yes, it’s 10 words.  It’s not 10 different adjectives that describe Brandon but a combination of 10 words put together into one sentence which describe him. This is what he brings to the baseball field. This is what others will learn from him as he continues living inside the testimony, whether the testimony is on or off the field. It really will inspire and encourage others even though he may be too young to see it right now.

Where will your dreams take you?

I hope your answer is “Wherever God leads me.”

So let’s see where baseball takes him…. Click here if you’d like to see some of the pictures from my Facebook photo album. (I think you have to log into Facebook once you click the link in order to see the pictures.)

BONUS VIDEO

Thanks for reading all the way to the bottom. I’m throwing in this little video clip simply because it’s part of the testimony. Brandon is a massive 5’7″, 140-pounder who starts on his high school varsity football team as a wide receiver and cornerback. Needless to say, I have to trust the Lord every.single.day for his safety and protection when he runs out on that football field because he is one of the smallest players out there. This was the season opener last week. All I’m going to say is watch this #StompDown by #27 Blue, my baseball player… LOL. Yes, I thoroughly enjoy watching him play baseball and football. What’s even better is watching him grow up and become the young man GOD created him to be. We can certainly enjoy his athletics along the way. 🙂