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The team I saw wasn’t, but I went to college in a baseball town and I know they exist: competitive 6-year-old baseball teams. (They said they weren’t...but if you have to try out for a team...it’s competitive in my book.) These kids are miniatures of their middle school and high school counterparts. Attitudes included. They aren’t learning the game – they are perfecting it. I fear some churches are like this (or give off the air that they are). You better not go there until you know the Bible front to back. And sit somewhere in the corner until you know the “rules” of when to stand and sit and speak and serve. These churches can make even full-fledged “baseball players” uncomfortable. Because they have forgotten the point of T-ball, like church, isn’t to do everything perfectly, but to learn how the basics and grow as baseball players (i.e. Christ’s disciples).  I have no doubt that my skill in life looks to God much like a 6-year-old trying to play T-ball. The short snippet of baseball hilarity that I got to witness was a humbling reminder of my own weakness and room for growth. But it was also a loving picture of God as Shepherd. God is firmly and consistently instructing His children in the way we should go – similar to the coach I saw. But God is also kind in correcting our mistakes. He isn’t pulling His hair out on the sidelines, yelling, or biting back a sarcastic comment. Instead, Christ our Shepherd calmly points out the inevitable consequences of our actions – some from His own hand and some natural. He comforts us when those consequences come to pass and encourages us to avoid them in the future. Our Creator knows our weaknesses (Psalm 103:14) and is patient with our foolishness. He is willing to wait for the best time to teach us certain things and is always focused on our good – not the “W” at this current moment. Our Coach is far better than we deserve – and better than we can imagine.  It was adorable. 6-year-olds playing T-ball. Some were playing in the dirt. Some were sitting down. Two were picking on each other. A few were paying attention to the game...but the skills were lacking to do much more than run around and look cute in their uniforms. One poor kid actually could play and looked the most frustrated of all of them...except maybe the coach. I wonder if this is something of what God sees when He looks at humans (even Christians) living their lives. Lots of people are distracted by incidental and inconsequential things. Some people are hurting each other on purpose. Others think they know “how to life”. But they really just run around chasing a ball and occasionally knocking into each other. Then, once in a while, someone does know “how to life” – and in trying to make everyone else understand, comes off as a royal jerk. Yes. I wonder what God sees when He looks at me “playing” my life?  Many things in life sparkle – like my newly painted parking spot. But just because something is blingy doesn’t mean it deserves our focus. But day-to-day, these things often receive our energy and attention because “the bling” appeals to our desires (especially the bad ones). We naturally focus on what catches our eye...or captures our heart...or intrigues our mind. It is foreign to us to think to do otherwise, unless we are Christ’s. But when we belong to Jesus, we have the option to avoid being sucked in by the bling. So next time, let us step back, pull our eyes off of what has caught our attention, and focus on God. As we set aside our own desires, we are then able to ask God and allow His priorities to reorder our own.   As I looked at those mesmerizingly bright white lines in our parking lot, I laughed. I was ignoring the brand-new cars and cars that could run me over to look at little bits of paint on the tarmac. But they were new and white and shiny. And they “demanded” my attention. In other words, that’s where I wanted to look.
And that’s where I tend to focus in life too. I naturally direct my attention to where I have placed my affection. This is why God keeps commanding us to love Him first, and then others. Over and over, Christ repeats His Father’s instructions to love. The Bible contains specific directives to love our spouses, our children, our brothers, our neighbors, and even our enemies. In other words, don’t be mesmerized by the lines. Set your heart on things that matter. Wow! My car magically looked so good. Cleaner. Newer. But I hadn’t visited a car wash or scrubbed off the moss. All that was different was...the new, bright white parking lot stripes. Who would have thought a sharp parking lot could make my old rattle-trap look better? It did. But why? Because perception is never just one thing. It is a combination of things. Like in life, small things matter. Small acts of kindness build families. Gentle words build relationships. Hints of hospitality form community. Tiny sacrifices allow us to become part of the ways God is working all around us.   This wall surrounds about an acre of beautifully tended garden at the Bunratty Castle grounds. At first, I thought the flowers in the center were sprouting from a wall-mounted planter. But no. The dusty red flowers are the product of an ostentatiously tenacious plant jutting out of the old stone wall. An unplanned and unexpected beauty.
I wouldn't have, but maybe the gardener knew this when they left the green shrub alone. I would have thought: "Weed." Maybe they saw: "Flower." Often, I think we see the people, circumstances, and internal struggles in our lives and think, "Blight." But we forget our Gardener, God, knows it all and leaves these things in our lives for the future blossoms they will bring. Because sometimes the most beautiful flowers grow from the most unanticipated places. I think I may be getting wiser because I can now laugh at my foolishness. A song came across my feed recently with the main lyrics being: "Leave her, Johnny, leave her." I was irked. A song encouraging men to leave their wives! I couldn't get to the app to change the song at that moment -- but if I could have, I would have turned it off. Of course, this failure indicated to the computer that I liked the song and wanted to hear it...multiple times. But in hearing it multiple times, I grasped the context. It was a sailing song...and the "she" was a ship...that was sinking (or maybe docked in its final port...hard to say for a land lubber). I laughed -- yes, Johnny, please leave her. The course that was repeated and catchy -- couldn't give you what you needed to understand the song. And some of the verses weren't clear either. You had to listen to the whole song...just like the Bible. You can't understand the riches of the New Testament apart from the promises (and the struggles) of the Old Testament. It benefits our study of any portion of Scripture to know the rest of God's Word, and apply it to the passage we are reading, thus synthesizing everything God is saying. Otherwise, you think a sailor avoiding a watery grave is a man in a bar abandoning his wife!  In Genesis 32:9-12, Jacob asks God for deliverance. Only it came through the unwanted. Who knows, maybe the Man and Jacob were fighting on how to approach Esau? But there is little doubt that Jacob didn’t intend to meet his brother limping and in pain – but that is what his encounter with God caused. At first glance, this was a disaster. But...how much easier do you think it was for Jacob to treat his brother with deference after he was so humbled by God? How much simpler to now ask for peace because he has no physical strength for anything else? Did the words praising his brother and begging forgiveness come more quickly because he knew had resisted the LORD all night and God had responded to him with patience? Maybe. Just maybe.   It was bad – Jacob has no retreat, no refuge, and a hostile brother over the river. He’s exhausted his options, and he’s about to be exhausted physically too – he just doesn’t know it.
He is utterly alone physically, and he's carrying it all on his shoulders. Everything he wants to protect is out of reach. All he fears losing he is separated from. All he has left is his strength – and God, in His goodness, is going to take that too. In God’s goodness. All God does – in this chapter and beyond – is in His goodness. |
The AuthorCome with me as we grow in fellowship with each other and our Savior to whom belongs the Amazing Escape from sin and death and the Amazing Journey into glorious life. Archives
August 2026
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