It’s now May and that means one thing in my family, Baseball season! This is a tradition in our family. Going back to my own dad, who still to this day loves to just play catch. While growing up some of the greatest memories for Trav and I are in the side yard every night playing catch and fielding grounders until it was to dark to see. For my birthday party each year my parents would allow me to invite 4 friends to a Pirates game, then have a sleepover. Even as i grew older one of Lindsay and I’s date nights would be a weekly game just to get out of town. Others might find the game boring but it runs in our blood. The past few years though my joy for the game has grown even more as my dad and I have started going to the little league World Series. There is just something about seeing kids from all around the world playing their hearts out and the thrill this game brings to them. It truly brings back so many memories of being that age. It is incredible to see the joy in my pops as the rest of the world disappears for a day as he recounts his own trips to Williamsport as a kid.
One guarantee about Williamsport is that you will hear John Fogerty’s song “centerfield” playing throughout the day. It is a tradition with such simple lyrics that just get stuck in your head and you can’t help but singing along. There is just such a simplicity to sayin, “put me in.”
“Oh, put me in coach- I’m ready to play today:
Put me in coach- I’m ready to play today:
Look at me, I can be centerfield.”
Now as a Dad it is awesome to see this joy for the game being passed down to Eli. We have started taking him to games himself and now even on TV he gets excited to watch it saying, “baseball game, baseball game.”
This past Christmas we got Eli and my dad both new gloves so they are ready to go. Watching the lil man try and learn to throw has been hilarious. Sometimes you would think he could be an incredible pitcher with the accuracy he already has, then other times somehow he manages to throw it backwards. (I think he learned that from his bubby somehow) Whether it goes forward or backward he just loves it, such a simple joy to being a kid. One thing to me is certain though, I can picture him as he grows saying, “Put me in coach!”
“The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, yet I have come that they might have life to the full.” -John 10:10
Now spiritually speaking this simple statement has me thinking. The game is our lives, God is our coach, and as believers it is time for us to start saying, “Put me in coach.” I hear way to many others talking about how they would play or what they would do if they were the ones in the game. Then here is a simple statement just for you, GET IN THE GAME!
The thief is out to keep you from being part of the game and experiencing what God is doing. Yet God is calling you to get in, to start living. No more excuses. No more sitting on the sideline watching and critiquing what others are doing. No more wishing we could just be part of the game. No more thinking that we don’t have enough skills or knowledge. Just a simple desire to truly start being part of what God is doing.
You have the gifting you need given to you by God himself. You have him leading you and teaching you as you go. Will you screw up at times, without a doubt. Will you strikeout or miss a fly ball every so often, of course we all do. You will also have the thrill of being in the game that many others never exprerince because they are still on the bench living of fear of what could be.
What game is God calling you to today. Where in your life is he challenging you to get in the game? How will you respond? With a resounding, “Put me in coach” or “I think you have the wrong person. “
One final thought for the day. Being in the game of life with God is meant to be a thrill, a joy. Picture Eli hitting his first home run or making his first catch. The excitement and pure joy of just being in the game. I believe that is what God intended for us in living. What would life look like if we started living with that passion?
“Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.” -Philippians 4:4
