Baseball! Fair or Foul?

Players are starting spring training and for all the people who live in cold regions of the country, this time of year often brings a promise of better weather and the start of a new season.  In a year when there are more stories about drug abuse and steroids than there are about possible pennants, many fans are hard pressed to get excited about baseball.  What used to be our national pastime is lucky to be even considered as a source for modern day heroes.

One of my most shocking experiences as an athlete took place on a baseball diamond many years ago.  It was my senior year of high school in Delta, Ohio, and we were playing one of our arch rivals from Napoleon.  I had just pitched a no-hitter a few days earlier and was feeling quite important when half way thru a close game, the umpire made what I thought were some terrible calls behind the plate.  The worst of those calls, again in my “humble” opinion was when he called me out on a pitch that was over my head.  As I walked away I mumbled under my breathe, “Judas Priest”… at which time the umpire runs up behind me and tosses me out of the game.  Since I had not actually said anything to the umpire prior to this, even though he could read my expressions, I now asked him why he was throwing me out of the game.  He said I should know why since I had just sworn and used filthy language.

My coach came flying out of the dugout and demanded that the umpire tell him what I had said that was so bad.  The umpire said he could not repeat those words at which time my coach said, “you are wrong, this kid would never say that!  In fact this kid wouldn’t say ______ even if he had a mouth full of it”.   The two of them argued for almost 20 minutes as my coach defended me in ways that I had never heard him talk about me before.  The lesson I learned that day was that people watch what you do even more than you think.  If people will wrongfully accuse you of something, will the people around you know if that is likely to be true or false?

As you get into baseball this year, let this story remind you that God calls us to let our light shine before men so that they can see His good works.  I might have been right in a technical sense during that game many years ago, but in actuality, I failed in letting the world see God’s light.  Matthew 5:16 says, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."

Monday Morning Message Sent 2/25/08

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