I attended a funeral several years ago for a man named Oscar Acosta. Without question, he was one of the toughest and most authentic man I ever met in my life.
He could do just about anything and do it well. He spent a few years working cattle on a ranch in New Mexico and couple more years as a welder. Many of the horse arenas in the Texas Panhandle were built with his skilled hands.
He was a master butcher and spent some time working in the oil patch outside of Odessa, Texas.
Those in West Texas involved in baseball more than likely heard the name Oscar Acosta mentioned a time or two. He was an All – American pitcher at Lubbock Christian College and spent a few years playing in the Phillies farm system and in the Mexican League.
The thing about Oscar was that when you met Oscar, Oscar is who you got. He wasted no time trying to impress you or win you over, he was who he was and that’s just the way it was.
If he felt that he was no longer effective in what he was doing, then instead of dragging out the obvious, he would pack up his stuff and leave without having to be asked. That takes humility and courage, a very rare combination today.
There were times when his straightforward approach was not well received and it cost him a job or two, but he knew no other way than just being himself and expressing what he believed.
Although he could be very intimidating at times, it was refreshing because you knew exactly where you stood with him. Plus, when it was over, it was over, and Oscar never brought it up again.
If anybody ever “Ran to the Roar” it was Oscar. He loved baseball, and to think that he went from those odd jobs to becoming the big-league pitching coach for the Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers is hard to believe, but he did.
Eventually, Oscar landed in the New York Yankees Organization as the Director of Baseball Operations in the Dominican Republic, where he was tragically killed in a car accident on April 19, 2006.
The one thing I will always remember about Oscar is this, although he was very tough, he held a tremendous amount of love for people, he just showed it through actions and not words. Oscar would not tell you how much he cared about you, he showed you.
Tough love for sure, but without the love, the tough won’t work.
Oscar would spend countless hours throwing batting practice to kids, me included, talking about the game of baseball and the life lessons it provided.
At the funeral, the preacher said this about Oscar, “There is no greater freedom in life than just being who you are.”
That was Oscar, and he capped that off by loving others with actions. Oscar was authentic because he had the courage to be who he was and not make excuses for it. Was he perfect, not even close, and he knew it, but at least you knew exactly the hand you were being dealt.
“Love is Patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast and is not proud. Love is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.”
1 Corinthians 13: 4 – 8
Although Oscar was not all of these things listed in this verse at the same time, he certainly exhibited biblical love to others. In all the years I knew him, he hit on every single word of that verse at some point and time in our friendship.
He may not have known the verse by memory, but he sure knew the God that wrote it, because he lived it.
I am reminded of a story I heard about a young man that was headed to the Northwest one summer to work as a Lumberjack.
He was a very strong Christian and very vocal in his faith around his family and friends, but he was concerned as to how he would fit in with the supposedly heavy drinking and foul-mouthed Lumberjacks up North.
When he came back home after spending the summer with the Lumberjacks, a good friend of his dropped by to hear about his experience. The young man assured his good friend that all they had heard about the rough and tumble life of a Lumberjack was true. Heavy drinking and crude jokes were an everyday occurrence and there was not another Christian in the group besides himself.
His friend then asked, “Well, how did they handle your faith then?”
The young man turned to his friend and said without hesitation, “Man it went great, they never knew I was a Christian, it never came up!”
As soon as those words rolled out of his mouth, the young man was flooded with shame and regret.
At that very moment, he realized that he was a fraud because he lacked the courage to be the man he proclaimed to be. He was all bark, no bite.
Don’t be afraid to say something if you don’t like the way things are.
Don’t be afraid to stand alone from the crowd
Don’t be afraid to follow your heart.
Don’t be afraid to do the right thing when nobody else is.
Don’t be afraid not to show hate even though you may be hated.
Don’t be afraid to take the blame even though you may not deserve it.
Don’t be afraid not to say something out of spite.
Don’t be afraid to admit you screwed up.
Don’t be afraid to treat others with love even though you may not get any love in return.
Don’t be on the lookout trying to find fault in others.
Don’t be afraid to simply be who you are. It will be okay.
Don’t be like the Lumberjack.
The most common form of misery is not being who you are. Oscar Wilde put it this way, “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
Happy New Year.
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Todd Howey is a columnist for BrownwoodNews.com whose articles will appear on Fridays.
