The Importance of Timing in Your Life

Watching the videos below you can see some similarities between these two professionals and their swings. Each composes himself with balance and poise. One focusing on a moving object and the other on a much smaller stationery one. Each is noteworthy in their respective fields. Each is of a similar build, not over-developed muscular-wise.

If you have ever watched a natural hitter like Ken Griffey Jr, below, you notice a quick, fluidic, effortless swing which generates great batspeed and thus massive power.

Or perhaps you are more familiar with the phenomenon known as Tiger Woods:

Notice neither of these men are particularly BIG physically like Arnold Schwarzenegger for example. Rather they are tall and lean. There are few instances in which massive people like Arnold have the finesse for such skills as hitting a home run or a 400 yard drive.  Yet they make it look so easy.

For anyone out there whom has played either sport and gotten THAT hit, the one where there was no resistance of the ball against the bat or the club. That hit in the "Sweet spot" where you weren't even sure if you made contact for everything met at just the right moment and the right space in time.

So what is it about these swings that make them so beautiful and desirous to recreate?

Watching these videos and even listening to the experts' analysis of Wood's swing we can glean these are finely tuned athletes with extraordinary muscle control, but there is one critical ingredient laying right before our eyes like an elephant in the room yet no one mentions it at all:

TIMING. 
The old cliche' "Timing is everything" is a cliche' because it is so true. There is nothing like showing up 15 minutes late to work, for your flight or to miss dinner at home with your family to make you realize that. NASCAR and NHRA fans understand timing. Expert marksmen and hunters understand it. Comedians and actors live and die by it.

With exceptional timing and being in tune with their body, these athletes show us what it is like to have the right timing for maximum result with less than maximum effort for they know by FORCING it or trying harder, they will fail to get the results they desire. In baseball it will be a pop fly because the tension in Griffey's muscles will squeeze the bat too hard and cause a slight drop in the bat angle leading to too much undercut. Or Woods will pull his hands in too close to his body and end up with a huge slice to the right. Instead, they realize by slowing down and keeping the proper timing, they will get extraordinary results.

The other thing I would point out too is once these athletes commit to their swing, there is no hesitation. No second-guessing. Once it commences, there is no reservation whatsoever. They are committed to it and execute it quickly.

Jesus of course realized the importance of timing also. For 30 years he labored as an obedient carpenter before breaking out into the role God had in store for Him. Waiting for His time and calling, Jesus was faithful, making the most of his craft while biding His time. He lived in the moment, not looking forward to the future. We humans are often looking to the future- to get off work, go on vacation, to eat, etc. Too often I hear people wishing their lives away by saying things like "I wish it were Friday" or "I am just killing time." These are powerful statements that provide us a glimpse into the psyche of that person.

But there's so much more to it than just Jesus waiting 30 years for His first miracle. Consider how He NEVER seemed to be in a hurry. Waiting for 30 years to perform His work. People would implore him to come and heal this person for they are sick and but he would deliberately take his time. This resulted in two ill people actually dying before He could arrive. But of course if He had hurried He would not have resurrected  Lazarus and Jairus' little girl in Mark 5:21-43. In Mark 4 we see Jesus and the disciples leaving a large crowd behind to travel to the far side of the sea. He spent 40 days fasting in the wilderness.

He was never in a hurry because He was on GOD'S TIME! As it turned out, we see Lazarus and the little girl raised from the dead not just simply healed, a much greater miracle. His waiting for God's timing made these larger miracles. Leaving the crowds hungry for His Word and works made them pursue Him rather than sitting back, having been satisfied and feeling as though they had heard all they needed to know. They knew there was more so they pursued Him out of faith and hunger.

You don't have to go THAT far out of your comfort zone to
see a Big return on your investment!

Too often we are satisfied and comfortable with our walk and thus will not get out of our comfort zone to grow. Growing ourselves can be a scary proposition for the truly experience growth, we have to get outside our personal boundaries and push ourselves into uncharted territory.

Be that as it may, it is clear to me, whether you believe in God or not, we are all in place as a part of a plan. One that is orchestrated with an intellect and perfection we cannot begin to comprehend, but can be obedient to. God places us in positions for a reason but this reason may not be immediately clear. It may not even be for our own benefit but perhaps for someone around us. It has taken me more than a decade to begin to appreciate the lessons God has intended for me as a disciple but I was too proud in my walk to hear what He would have me to hear.

I now realize I may have been in a storm, but it was really a season. A season of understanding and openness with myself and God.  What I am trying to say is, when I entered this stormy season, I was upset and asked "Why me?" and I now realize the time for that part of my life had come to an end though I desperately clung to it and I needed to  LET GO first before I could take the next step.  Unfortunately, I was disobedient, trying to hold on too long and ultimately had to be humbled before I could begin to hear the lesson He would have me to hear.  I had to be removed from one career path to one substantially lower in esteem than the one I was on. That was not the humbling part for me. It was to stop asking "Why me" and start asking "Why NOT me?" and to thank Him for the grace He extended to me despite my disobedience.

What is just beyond YOUR comfort zone? What is just out of reach that God would hand to you? Reach out your hand and take it from Him for He is a loving Father and you are a beloved child of His. What father would deny his child anything beneficial for them? Commit to your swing right now. Take that step and watch what happens next in your life.

The miracle of the United States intro

Being an historian, I have had an opportunity to enjoy the many stories of the remarkable adventure that became the United States.

Tracing our history back to the Pilgrims and their improbability for success, I marveled at what is obviously something God was directly involved in. When you consider the various turns of events in our history, I am more and more convinced we were (as a nation) of Intelligent Design, and having been in medical sales for over a decade, having been exposed to the miracle of the human body, that we (as humans) are of Intelligent Design as well. 

Through subsequent entries of this blog, I will offer some of the more illustrative examples in which we not only succeeded against overwhelming odds, but flourished in less than 200 years.

Previously, the only people capable of such feats were conquering armies like the Romans, Greeks, Mongols, French, and many others throughout history. Powerful army-nations who conquered less powerful people and vanquished them to servitude and exploited the spoils of war.

While some would argue we did the same (especially with regards to the native Americans), the main difference here is we did not venture north to Canada nor to the south into central or south America which would be an appropriate example when compared to the aforementioned conquerors.

Furthermore, much of this great nation was taken from other nations in conflict, eg., Mexico, or outright purchased from others like France and Russia. No matter how you look at it, for a country to rise from the ground with literally nothing going for it but the desire to be free, and no guarantees except a very real possibility of dying, our founders braved difficulties, dangers, risks and fears you and I cannot begin to appreciate.

Consider the Pilgrims. Who were they? Were they the wealthy, aristocracy of Europe? Were they people of influence and means? No. They were very nearly the bottom of the barrel of society- perhaps one step above a prisoner or a slave.

They were not successful in part because they were religious outcasts, otherwise, they would not have had a need to leave and expose themselves to such risks and unknown variables. Yet, for all their shortcomings, these people established colonies in the wilderness of the eastern U.S., and set the groundwork for something truly remarkable- a nation unlike any the world had or ever will see; a nation of free men, and one that emerged as a superpower, and a powerful economical force as well.

That is not to say we have not made mistakes- we have. Many of which we continue to make (ostensibly for the greater good) today; Allowing judges to legislate from the bench, allowing the vocal minority to undermine the fabric of our nation by removing God from our schools and teaching revisionist history, allowing our taxes to be spent wantonly with little or no accountability, backing illicit governments, and unfortunately, repeating some of the same mistakes over and over.

Nevertheless, we tend to come out on top for a variety of reasons. The media call it ingenuity, military or economic might, what have you. Make no mistake about it- when adding them all together, it can be nothing short of Divine Intervention.

The Miracle of the United States Part one: Pearl Harbor

Few images are as recognizable or stir deeper emotions more than those of the Arizona sunken and burning after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941. Not many people would say the attack was a miracle or an act of God, but I submit to you, God was in fact working that day.

We were on a collision course with war; one we very much wanted to avoid after our recent experiences with WW1, but the clouds of war gathered over Europe and in Asia. Conflict was imminent and the American people, like those in Continental Europe, chose to ignore the warning signs and hope for the best.

Our embargo of Japans' oil supply is what had pushed us to the brink of war with the tiny nation. We were fully justified in placing this embargo considering:

1.) Japan's refusal to follow the Washington treaty limiting warships to a maximum tonnage of 35,000 tons.

2.) The manufactured international incident in Manchuria and their subsequent rape of the land. Oil and rubber were at a premium for the Japanese war machine and if they could not get us to loosen sanctions through diplomatic channels, they had but two choices: Scrap the mammoth battleships they were building which violated the treaty, or, they would go to war. Historical perspective of course gives us the benefit knowing which path they would choose.

It is also worth mentioning the Japanese cunning went so far as to attempt to enlist the help of Mexico with the promise of returning Texas to Mexico once they were victorious. But their plan, while audacious and bold, was executed with flair for not fully exploiting their success which would be a common theme of the Japanese military campaigns in the coming years.

The first miracle was that Admiral Chester Nimitz was, though being several years junior to other ranking naval Admirals, chosen to be the CINCPACFLT. Realizing there to be a rising storm in the west, he declined the position thus putting Husband Kimmel in the hot seat and forever dooming him to be the scapegoat of all scapegoats. This put Nimitz in the commander's chair 10 days later. A man with such strategic insight and nerve was exactly what we needed at that moment.

Second, thankfully military people are typically not terribly out of the box thinkers. As such, the battleships were still highly regarded as the capital ships. This is why they were all arranged quite neatly in rows on the morning of the attack. Aircraft carriers were largely viewed as a distraction and subservient to the battleships (BB's).  Thinking at the time essentially held the aircraft would be more valuable as scouts and spotters not as a prime arm of attack.  This is also the primary reason our aviators were so sorely outclassed with their under-performing a/c while the Japanese enjoyed many advantages in the air.  This is all miraculous for if they truly appreciated the quantum change in naval warfare, the naval leadership would not have sent the 3 American aircraft carriers to sea by themselves to ferry plane to American outposts.

Third, the Japanese failed to strike the oil tank farms (see below, in the bottom right of the image annotated "Oil Storage") immediately east of Battleship Row. These would have been plainly visible and clearly defined during the attack. In fact, many planes flew over them during their ingress/egress to their targets, or as they swooped in on Hickam Field to the south. This farm constitutes the oil reserve for the Pacific fleet. Just a couple of bombs would have set them afire, also threatening CINCPAC HQ which was within shouting distance. Without these reserves, refueling would have had to have been done on the West coast of the U.S.,  requiring many oil tankers and at sea refueling. This would have effectively ended our ability to check the Japanese advances in the Pacific at Coral Sea and later at Midway. So at a minimum, their failure to at least damage these reserves was a grave and costly strategic mistake.

Fourth, the fact the harbor was indeed so shallow made it easier to resurrect some of these damaged ships, returning them to see action against these foes, exacting some means of retribution and revenge.

Lastly, and I feel most important, they failed to secure the islands. Things would have turned out much differently had this occurred. This possibility was raised to my attention by their having not attacked the tank farms mentioned above. The very reason they attacked was for an oil shortage.

While we will probably never know exactly what the Japanese intended or why they failed to exploit their success, one fact is absolute; the outcome of WWII would have been far less certain had they continued the attack on the islands. They had won a great victory over the U.S. Navy, but because they had lost many more aircraft in the second attack, Japanese leadership thought it best to retire rather than press a third attack.

But what if the Japanese fleet had continued to advance on Pearl Harbor and the capital ships then started shelling the installation and surviving U.S. vessels? They wouldn't have had to be too terribly close to do so.

Most likely, their overly-conservative stance coupled with a fear of being discovered by aircraft from land or the elusive American carriers. Surely though, they knew our few remaining P-40 and F4F fighters were no match for the A6M Zero in the hands of accomplished combat pilots. So why? Why did they leave such a valuable strategic asset so close, yet so far away? Could it have been the threat of submarines patrolling? Surely they too could have been hunted down and dispatched.

Perhaps they felt they would be finding oil in the Australia/Western Pacific approaches, in SE Asia or within a few months following a successful campaign against Midway Island they would be returning to Hawaii. Had they brought an occupation force with them, they secure Oahu within a few days, replenish their fleet, finish off our remaining ships and find those carriers of ours before cruising the west coast with impunity.

To compound the question is also Admiral Yamomoto's reluctance to attack the U.S. in the first place. He had studied in America for some time before the war, and was awed by the industrial might of the United States. He warned his superiors such an attack was unwise, and if they followed through with the attack, they would have approximately 6 months of impunity before America would respond. In fact, after the attack he was quoted as saying "I fear we have only awakened a sleeping giant."

His foresight was eerily prescient. Almost to the day 6 months later, despite numerical advantages in every category, the Japanese would be handed one of the most catastrophic losses of any naval battle in history at a little known atoll named Midway- the site of another miracle in the history of the United States.