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Let's Play Ball

Writer's picture: Virginia RippleVirginia Ripple

by Guest Paula McLain



I couldn't wait to hear what baseball team I was going to be placed on and when and where my first game would take place. I had my favorite ball fields. The bigger, the better. Made me feel like I was in the big leagues. My mom would put my hair in two pigtails, and I would put my sweatbands on each wrist. I would grab my favorite bat and glove, and I'd head off to the game with excitement. I hated sitting on the bench during a game. You see, I came to play.

 

And I couldn't wait to get out on the field or get up to bat. I practiced hard. And I remember one night in particular, my father and I were outside, and he was throwing me the ball as I practiced my swings, and then we would practice catching the ball back and forth. I would switch positions and try my hand at pitching and then catching to picking up grounders and catching pop flies. After some of the games, we might stop off at my grandparents’, and we would tune into the radio for the highlights of the game. I'd listen intently, because what I was listening for was the affirmation of my skills.

 

You see, after the highlights of the game, they would announce who the hustler of the game was. I always felt if I received that title, I'd done a good job. I wasn't quite sure what it meant, but I knew it sounded pretty impressive.

 

Hustle. The willingness to exert 100% effort to accomplish as much as a player's talent will allow. I wonder how that would translate into the life as a Christian. Hustler of the Christian life.

 

What if we aspire to exert 100% effort to accomplish as much as our God-gifted talents will allow? One of my favorite scriptures is John 20, verses 19 through 22. I love this scripture, because there are so many different lessons and reminders to all of us as Christians.

 

You see, in the first part of the scripture, in the mournful first day of the week, Jesus' disciples were gathered in a room helplessly lost, aimed at a sea of hungry Jewish sharks. The situation could not have seemed more helpless or filled with doubt. Their Jesus was dead, and their world had been turned upside down in a matter of hours.

 

One of their own had been a traitor, and no doubt thoughts of who might be next were running through their minds. The disciples had come to a defining moment in their fellowship. They had gathered together, but the gathering was not filled with hope. It was filled with fear. Little comfort could be found among such a group. No doubt they tried to be brave.

 

They tried to come up with some plan that would give them a scenario for tomorrow. But in the end, as hard as they tried to come up with something positive, something to give them hope, the threat of persecution and death hung heavily over their heads. Who or what could save them? With fears and doubts bumping into them left and right, little else mattered.

 

And then, then Jesus appeared and spread his peaceful greeting over their fears. He had appeared in the nick of time. They were saved.

 

His hope became theirs, as it does yours and mine. Their fear turned to peace and left them with great joy, all by simply acknowledging the presence of their Savior. This scripture reminds me in times of fear that if I acknowledge the power and the presence of my Lord and Savior, I can turn my fear into peace. And that peace can give me the power to be joyful despite what I may be experiencing.

 

However, there's a few more lessons as we continue with the scripture in verses 21 and 22. Reminders of once we are saved, that we have a purpose as a Christian.

 

This scripture tells us that Jesus was sent by his father and that he was now sending the disciples, which carries on to each of you. He's sending you to use your talents and gifts to tell others of his love and his grace.  Many complicate what gifts and talents they may have. They make it over-complicated. It can be as simple as sharing the word, embracing others with love, with hope.

 

Jim and Jack were the best of friends. They were devoted, inseparable. So when Jim lost both his legs in a railroad accident, Jack did everything he could to help. At first, Jim was certain his career with the railroad was finished. Then the company gave him another job as the signal man. And his outpost was to be a lonely little stop more than 200 miles from anywhere.

 

Jack, he went along to be whatever help he could be. After all, what are friends for?

 

Jim had barely recovered from the trauma of a double amputation when the railroad had given him the new assignment. He'd live in this little wooden shack that was about 150 yards from the signal tower. It was going to be lonely out there. And there'd be many difficult adjustments. But Jack, he'd be there to help for a while anyway, long enough for Jim to overcome those initial adjustments. In the beginning, Jack stuck around mostly for company.

 

He swept out the shack, and he pumped water from the well, and he tended the garden, all things that Jim could not do. There was this little trolley single-seater that led from the shack to the signal tower. And Jack pushed Jim on that trolley several times a day and stood there while Jim operated the big levers in sequence.

 

Eventually, Jack got so familiar with Jim's routine that he began to walk out and operate the signal system himself. Sure enough, pretty soon, in addition to housecleaning and the rest, Jack gradually began to take over all the duties for the railroad, though officially he was not an employee.

 

There was a lot to remember on that job, a lot to be done. Daily responsibilities at the signal tower included working the levers as well as the lower controls that opened and closed the siding switches. But Jack, Jack never complained. After all, Jim was his friend. It was the least Jack could do.

 

For more than nine years, Jack kept house for Jim. For more than nine years, he made the daily trip to the tower to operate the heavy equipment until he died of tuberculosis.

 

In all those years, Jack never made a mistake, never threw a switch incorrectly, never sighted a car in the air. Not one accident or even a narrow miss was reported on that line. Jack is buried in Cape Colony, South Africa, not far from the outpost where he worked for almost a decade, for his love, for a friend. His grave is a silent testimony to selflessness.

 

Oh, by the way, I don't think I mentioned that Jack, Jim's devoted friend who cleaned house and pumped water and tended the garden and manned the switch tower, was not a man at all. He was a baboon.

 

Now, if an ape can demonstrate that kind of love, can we who call ourselves Christians be known for our ability to love more than anything else? Everyone has this talent. Love is for giving away, not hoarding. We're all capable of giving the gift of love.

 

You, just like the disciples, are being sent to love and share the word of our Heavenly Father. In John 20, verse 22, and with that, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” He's asking you to open your hearts and to receive the Holy Spirit into your life and become more like him.

 

Some days we might find that harder than others, but the key is to consistently ask for his presence and pray that your heart is open to the Holy Spirit living within you so that every thought and every struggle is overcome with his presence. I saw this prayer one day and I had to chuckle as it reminds me just how difficult it can be sometimes.

 

Dear God, so far today I've done all right. I haven't gossiped. I haven't lost my temper. I haven't been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or overindulgent. I'm very thankful for that. But in a few minutes, God, I'm going to get out of bed and from then on, I'm probably going to need some help. Amen.

 

We have to ask for his help. To ask that he consistently lives within us for every moment and every minute of our day. Every thought should turn to him to help us stay on track if we but receive the Holy Spirit as he commands.

 

Bill Broadhurst was this great runner and he entered a 10K race in Omaha, a race that Bill Rogers would win in less than 30 minutes. Bill Broadhurst had a handicap. He was paralyzed on his entire left side from an aneurysm early in life, but he still loved to run, and for him to be able to be in that same race as his hero, Bill Rogers, was the greatest thing he could imagine.

 

The banners had been taken down. The traffic had begun to flow on the roads. There was nothing left that would tell you that a race had been run.

 

Except one man, Bill Broadhurst, who was still running that race. Two hours ago, Bill Rogers had finished the race and now Bill Broadhurst was nearing the place where the finish line had been. A couple of kids on their bikes rode beside him and they said, “Hey mister, are you still running the race? It's been over for hours. Someone already finished first and won. Why don't you quit? The race is over.”

 

Broadhurst replied, “I can't. I have to make it to my hero at the end of the line.”

And he kept on running. As he approached the place where he knew the finish line would be, Bill Rogers and about 30 people stepped out from an alley and they placed a banner up and strung a ribbon across the road and Bill Broadhurst stumbled across the finish line.

 

And there stood his hero, Bill Rogers, who took off the ribbon from his neck and placed it around the neck of Broadhurst. And he said, “You're a winner because you never quit.”

 

Brothers and sisters, don't quit. Keep running. Your hero, Jesus Christ, is at the finish line waiting for you. Today, if you're not a Christian, you need to join the only race that will give you a victor's prize.

 

And we Christians, we need to keep on running that race. Jesus is at the finish line waiting for you. He wants to place the golden crown of life on your head.

 

So we should go for the gold. Open your hearts. Make it a mission to live among the Holy Spirit in every moment.

 

We can't quit and push him aside when things become too difficult and we feel so defeated. It's hard to concentrate yet on just one thing and make it a priority when so many other things are happening in our lives. The only way to receive the Holy Spirit is to focus on that presence with every thought, every action, and every word spoken and every ounce of our being.

 

Philippians 3, verses 13 through 14. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it, but one thing I do, forgetting what is behind, straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

 

He has sent each of you as he was sent by his Father. What an honor. What an opportunity.

 

John 14, verse 6, Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through me.

 

How many of you have heard of the amazing Randy? He was a stage magician, a mentalist, an escape artist in the tradition of Houdini. He once escaped from a block of ice and once escaped from a straight jacket hanging upside down over Niagara Falls and he once broke a record for staying underwater in this airtight coffin for over two hours in a public pool in London, England.

 

In later years, he was something of a debunker. He revealed the tricks behind some stage magic and alleged psychic powers. Pin Gillette wrote a biography about the amazing Randy and in that biography, he revealed that when Randy was performing as a mentalist on stage, that he would awaken each morning and he would take a note out of his wallet, destroy it, write a new one, and put it in his wallet.

 

And the note essentially said, I am James Randy, this is June 23, 2024, and today will be the day that I die. That way, if he died on that day, someone would find the note and believe that he had accurately predicted the day of his death and his legend would live on. Now, that's a lot of trouble to go to, to guarantee your legacy when you're not by definition going to be around to enjoy it.

 

But what if? What if we all had a sheet of paper in our wallet today? What if they all said something like, “I am Paula McLain, today is June 23, 2024, and I know that this will be the day that I die.”? Would that day be spent doing something where we're in control and comfortable, our version of some fishing expedition? Or would that day be spent feeding lambs, tending the whole flock, feeding the sheep? You see, I'm ashamed by the useless dedication of the amazing Randy to go through that ritual with a wallet when I have a Lord that can make sure that every day is his day. Even if it's the day that I die.

 

How about you? Let the Holy Spirit flow freely within your heart and live each day as his day, as he has sent you out into this world to share the news and your talent in his name.

 

In 1 Corinthians 9 verses 24 through 27, do you not know that in a race all the runners run but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the game goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like someone running aimlessly. I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

 

The point Paul is making in the scripture reading is that we need to live a purposeful life of discipleship. We need to remove barriers to growing in faith, living in Christian community, and pursuing a life of witness to Jesus.

 

We can't sit on the bench. We have to get out there, and we have to play ball. It doesn't have to be too complicated to be a Christian sent by our Heavenly Father to share our talents with others and to spread the word of our Lord, nor does it need to be too complicated to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

 

Perhaps the most complicated is taking the time to make it a priority. Stop practicing. Put the game into play.

 

Greg Bakersfield recalls when he coached his son's little league, “A few years back, I coached my son's little league, and we spent many, many hours practicing. We practiced and practiced, and we learned the fundamentals, how to hit, how to bunt, how to throw, how to pitch and catch.

 

“We learned all the secret coaching signs. We honed our skills day after day in the summer sun. We could have practiced all summer, but it would have been meaningless.

 

“I may have had a great team, little league, World Series contenders maybe, but unless we quit practicing and went out and met the opposition, I would never know. The team would never accomplish anything until they played a game. The act of playing the game after careful preparation is what the world is all about.”

 

Practicing and learning go for nothing if we don't go out and use our skills. There comes a moment in time when we need to leave the safety of our pews and go out and meet the opposition and win them over. Be the hustlers of the Christian life.

 

It's time for each of us to be sent by our Father, pick up our talents, practice, letting the Holy Spirit into our hearts, and go out there and let's play ball.

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FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH

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