Baseball According To God

Baseball According To God

    “By his divine power, he has given us all the things that we need for life and for true devotion, bringing us to know God himself, … In making these gifts, he has given us the guarantee of something very great and wonderful to come: through them you will be able to share the divine nature and to escape corruption in a world that is sunk in vice.  

But to attain this, you will have to do your utmost yourselves, adding goodness to the faith that you have… Brothers, you have been called and chosen: work all the harder to justify it.  If you do all these things there is no danger that you will ever fall away.  In this way you will be granted admittance into the eternal kingdom…” (2Peter 1:3-5, 10-11)

Upon reading these verses, a baseball metaphor came to mind, which in turn caused me to wonder why it is so common to use sport metaphors in describing religious truths.  Perhaps, it is because at the end of a game, as in life, everybody ends up either a winner or a loser.  

This gave me an idea –what if the game of baseball was reverse engineered to better fit St. Peter’s presentation of the Good News; what would it look like?  Here’s my go at it…  Batter up!

Right off the bat (cheap pun intended), there is a winning team and a losing team.  The losing team is named Selfers, and their mascot is this guy staggering around as a giant can of beer.  The winning team is named Lovers, and their mascot is a guy waving a giant Cross.  The teams do not pick their players.  The players pick their team, and they can switch teams whenever they want.  Those who want to eat, drink and be merry choose the Selfers.  Those who want to live their life for Christ choose the Lovers.  The Selfers always have the advantage of greater numbers.

There is no score; and an undetermined number of innings.  Neither team knows when the game is over; just that it ends the next time the Lovers’ Manager shows up on the field.  The goals of each team are unrelated.  The Selfers just want to have fun by hitting the ball and running.  The Lovers have their hearts set on getting Home.  There is no best four out of seven series –just one Big Game.

Everyone is guaranteed a hit and a chance to run Home.  There are no forced outs.  A player secures each succeeding base by living for Jesus.  The Selfers of course never make it to First, but they don’t care because they are having fun.  Anyone failing to love is tagged out, but is eligible to bat again.

There are no Home Runs.  The only ones who make it Home are the players who have faithfully run the bases.  Those on First have shown they made the Choice and are running in earnest; those on Second have proven their endurance and perseverance; by Third they have found wisdom; and the final journey towards Home is not unlike the path to Calvary.

Many Selfers get tired of living for fun and are driven to taste the Joyful Sweat of the Lovers’ toil; and many Lovers, losing touch with their Manager, become withered –some rediscover his Presence and Power, and some, despair and switch to the Selfers.  One can never tell by the player’s uniform whether they will end up a winner or a loser.

To a casual observer, playing the Big Game might appear foolish.  But to one who thirsts deeply, it offers Life.  Even St. Paul, the New Testament’s greatest sports fan, enjoins us to compete: “All the runners at the stadium are trying to win, but only one of them gets the prize. You must run in the same way, meaning to win.  All the fighters at the games go into strict training; they do this just to win a wreath that will wither away, but we do it for a wreath that will never wither.  That is how I run, intent on winning; that is how I fight, not beating the air.  I treat my body hard and make it obey me,  for, having been an announcer myself, I should not want to be disqualified.” (1COR 9:24) ; and again, “I have fought the good fight to the end; I have run the race to the finish; I have kept the faith;” (2TM 4:7).

          Loving Father, how I long to c0me Home, to rest in your Bosom.  Holy Spirit, fill me anew with your passion to Love.  Jesus, help me to keep my eyes on the Goal.  I want to live for you.  I want to love for you.  When I cross Home Base,  I want to hear you exclaim, “Father, Behold!  I have made another like unto you!”

Take Up Your Oar And Follow Me

Take Up Your Oar And Follow Me

            Once upon a time, there was an old holy man, who lived high on a mountain, in a cabin along a river that flowed to a village of very poor people.  He poured out his life ministering to them.  He became a legend among them.  He spent the long winters hauling supplies up from the valley below. All the food, medicine and gifts for the children had to be carried up the mountain on his back.  Then in the spring, when the river melted, he loaded his precious supplies onto his trusty raft, to navigate the dangerous waters to their village. All the while he was buoyed up with the anticipation of the gifts he bore, and the Gospel News he so loved to share.

            After years of service, the old man had become too frail to continue the grueling trips.  While he was awaiting the arrival of the young recruit to carry-on his life's work, he decided to make one last trip to say farewell to his beloved flock.  As soon as he set out into the river, the rapids overwhelmed his raft and smashed his oar against a rock, breaking it.  Undaunted, he tied-off the raft, and hiked back to his cabin.

            When he arrived, he found the young recruit waiting to report for duty. The young man said, “I want to be like you, I want serve the Lord.”  “You may begin then, said the old man, by returning to the valley below, and bring back an oar, that I might finish my last trip.  I know you must be exhausted from your long week’s climb, so eat and sleep well tonight, then leave at first light.  Before you leave, it would do you well to read verse one of the second chapter of Sirach, that you may be encouraged on your journey.”  The young man said, “I want to serve the Lord.  I shall return with your oar.”  But in his eagerness to be on his way, he forgot to read the Scripture.

            Going down the mountain proved every bit as difficult as the ascent.  He slipped and fell many times, and with each bruise and scrape, he said, “I want to serve the Lord!”  When he finally reached the city, he immediately purchased an oar, a week’s supply of food, and then set off with his face set to climb the mountain.  Dragging that oar made the journey harder and longer than he had planned.  With yet another day and a half to go, he found himself without food.  That night, he went to sleep hungry, telling himself, “I want to serve the Lord!”

            As morning broke, he was awakened by a ferocious roar.  He opened his eyes to an angry bear, rearing up on its hind legs.  The young man grabbed his oar, and began beating the bear with all his might, and with all the might of his guardian angel as well.  As the bear turned to flee, the final whack on its back broke the oar in half.

            The tears in the young man’s eyes told the old man everything he needed to know.  He held the young man in his arms.  “I am so proud of you, he said.  And it grieves me to tell you, that my life is at its end.  I have only a short time to say goodbye to my people.  I must ask you to go quickly and bring me another oar.”  The young man said, “I want to serve the Lord!”  He gathered up his supplies and set off down the mountain.

            Three weeks went by, and the young man returned with a jubilant smile.  He shouted, “See, I have brought you two oars, one extra, in case of bears!”  The old man hugged him in a long silence, kissed both cheeks, and said, “You are a faithful servant.”  Then, tucking both oars under his arm, he turned, and waded into the river to shove off his raft.  But the old man suddenly stood up straight, clenched his heart with both hands, and slumped to his knees.

            The young man jumped into the water and held the old man in his arms, as they watched the oars float away in the rapids.  The young man tried to smile as he cried softly to the old man, “It’s ok, I can get you some more oars.”  The old man looked up to the sky, then closed his eyes, and sighed with a half smile -the kind one has as he lays his head into his pillow after a long hard day’s work.  Then he whispered, “I don’t need them now, I have these two angels instead.”

             The sun was setting when he buried the old man in the garden.  The young man sat down on the porch to ponder all that had happened.  The day’s last light shone upon the old man’s tattered bible.  It had a faded picture bookmarking the worn pages.  He opened to it, and held the picture toward the sun.  It was of the young old man, standing proudly on a brand new raft, leaning on an oar.

    The young man looked at the bible.  It was opened to the second chapter of Sirach, its pages coffee stained.  The first verse was underlined.  He read it aloud to himself, “My son, if you desire to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for an oar-deal.

Today Becomes Tomorrow

Today Becomes Tomorrow

“My dear people, we are already the children of God but what we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed; all we know is that when it is revealed we shall be like him because we shall see him as he really is.” 1John 3:2

 

Today is both the present and a present.  Today is the present Now –the Breathing In of God’s Spirit, and the Breathing Out of my life lived.  It is a Sacred piece of time: the only place where I can change; where Becoming takes place; where my past is expressed; where my future is chosen; and where my true self is brought to life.  

          And so it is that today, also is a present –a Gift Exchange.  It is God’s Gift of life to me, and, it is the Gift of my life to God ….which makes me exalt,  ”Look Master, You gave me five talents and I made them into ten!”

          Today is a piece of time, a length of thread, which I weave into the Tapestry of my life.  Just as I do not choose the Gifts given me, I do not choose the color or texture of today’s thread, but every thought and action of mine, weaves that thread into the Tapestry of my life –Pure Gift, unearned and freely given.

The Hope I have in Christ, is that my Tapestry will itself become a thread …that, joined with all the Tapestries of all the Saints, will reflect the very image of its Source, and this Intertwined Unity of all the Love that is, will become one with God …individual still… yet consumed in the Oneness Of Love into an Eternal Tomorrow .