andrew dodson

Reds fans were shocked when the team traded rising-star outfielder Josh Hamilton to the Texas Rangers for an “unknown” pitcher – Edinson Volquez. “What are they thinking?” we all asked. The fact that the offense-heavy Reds needing pitching help wasn’t debated. We just wondered why we’d trade one of our best offensive players from 2007 for a virtual nobody.

The Fall and Rise of Hamilton

Hamilton’s story is becoming more and more well-known. He was a highly touted top draft pick of the Tampa Bay Rays in 1999. However, the fame and fast paced life of a professional athlete got the best of him. He fell into struggles with drugs and alcohol. Between the years of 2002-2005, Hamilton was suspended by Major League Baseball for violating the substance abuse policy. He made several trips to rehab and attempted suicide three times [1]. It was also during this time that he found Christ – the strength to lead him away from his life of sin [2].

By 2007, Hamilton had made his way back to the Major Leagues, making the Cincinnati Reds’ roster out of spring training. He surprised everyone with a solid season (.292 BA, 19 HR, 47 RBI), while playing only 90 games due to injuries.

This season, Hamilton is shocking the world. He is currently near the top of each Triple Crown category in the American League – .327 BA, 12 HR, 53 RBI in just 52 games. I think it’s safe to say he’s returned to the form that made him a top draft pick in 1999.

Young Pitcher to Cy Young?

Edinson Volquez’s rise to semi-fame hasn’t been quite as dramatic as Josh Hamilton, but just as interesting. Volquez needed a bit of “humble pie” to turn his baseball career around.

A star in the Texas Rangers farm system, Volquez was eventually promoted to the Major Leagues. During two brief stints with the Rangers is 2005 and 2006, the Rangers were terribly unsatisfied with Volquez’s performance, both on the field and off. To bring Volquez to maturity – as a person and player – the Rangers demoted him to Single-A. They gave him rules to follow – including cutting his hair, who he could talk to and several other seemingly strict rules [1].

Not only has Volquez done what’s been asked of him, but he has excelled at every level along the way. Following the Hamilton trade, Volquez amazed the Reds organization in spring training – enough to make the Opening Day roster, with a spot in the starting rotation.

Volquez has been nothing short of amazing so far this season. He is currently 7-2 with a National League-best ERA of 1.31. With Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo struggling on the mound, Volquez has emerged as the ace of the Reds staff after the first quarter of the season.

The Best Trade Ever?

With the success of both Hamilton and Volquez on their new teams, we have to ask if this is one of the best trades in baseball history? Rarely have we seen a trade work out to this degree of success for both clubs. Hamilton has plugged an offensive hole in the Rangers’ lineup and Volquez is sustaining what could be a solid starting rotation for the Reds if the rest of the staff can get hot.

This is why I carry Verizon.

I found this on Justin Taylor’s blog and it really hits home with me. Sort of shapes how I should view my work as a graphic artist.

1. Christian artists should view their talent as a gift from God and see its use ultimately as worship to God.
2. A Christian artist should have a sober assessment of his gift and neither
   over-estimate the opportunities it should given him or undervalue the
   contribution he can make with it.
3. The most authentic Christian art results from our joy in Christ overflowing
   into Christian art, not our strategies to do art that is Christian.
4. Creating art is an expression of faith and obedience, not of compulsion or identity.
5. The Christian artist should see his art as a way to love God, his people, and the world.
6. The Christian Artist sees the sovereign hand of God in both his opportunities and his obstacles.
7. The Christian artist is committed to truth in the way he lives and what he creates.
8. While the Christian artist is under no burden to make all of his art
   explicitly Christian, it would be an unbiblical use of his gift to
   intentionally create a body of work without reference to Christ.
9. The Christian artist rejects the worldly concept of artist as an outsider
   and embraces his place among God’s people in the local church as
   essential to his life and gifting.
10. The Christian artist should not ignore his personal responsibility to evaluate the theological soundness of his work.
11. Because the Christian artist trusts God, he will battle selfish ambition,
    competition, and any pretense of entitlement in regard to his art.
12. The Christian artist will see the evaluation of others as an essential help
    in both growing in their art and assessing its fruitfulness.
13. The Christian artist will resist elitism and care about the accessibility
    of his art to the average Christian in the congregation
14. The Christian artist must never confuse the joy of creativity with the joy of knowing and pleasing God.

There he goes, again. That John Piper guy is getting all literal on us, telling us that we should just throw our ESV away and go back to the KJV.

I’m really, really kidding. But, it’s an interesting word-study. He says:

The following meditation comes from my devotional lingering over Psalm
96:7. All the modern versions translate it, “Ascribe to the
Lord…strength” (ESV, NIV, NASB). Only the KJV renders it with the
literal, “Give unto the Lord…strength.”

There’s nothing unusual about this Hebrew word “give” (yahab). It’s used over sixty times in the Old Testament in all the ordinary ways the word give is used.

The word ascribe in Psalm 96:7 is an interpretation. It’s
a paraphrase. It’s a good interpretation, I think, but, as with all
paraphrases, it short circuits our reflection. But for me,
full-circuited reflection is where my soul gets its best food. So I am
glad I spent the summer of 1969 with William LaSor learning Hebrew.

That’s just a highlight. If you want, you can go read the whole article.

Evidence there is some good remaining in humanity. A violinist leaves his $4 million dollar violin in a taxi. It is safely returned very quickly.

> Go read the story

So, I’ve got graphic design on the brain. I’ve had a creative spurt lately, which has led to some new and different designs for me. I figured I’d showcase some of them here, mostly done for The Point:

We’ve broken fresh ground.

I’ve partnered up with someone to do some graphic work, in exchange for some promotion of BADmedia.  One thing they want is animated GIFs for their website.  I’ve never created animated GIFs so I figured now was a good time to learn.  Also, I’m working on a website for BADmedia to get ready to start promoting my business some more.  Why not create an animated GIF for the BADmedia site?

I couldn’t live with a simple animated GIF.  I wanted something more along the lines of Flash (another web animation I’ve never learned).  After reading a bit on the net, I learned you can turn an AVI into an animated GIF.  Cool!  I dropped a background graphic and some animated text into iMovie HD, exported as an AVI, dumped it into ImageReady and voila!  My first animated GIF.