Dan Kunz
I am an unabashed baseball fan. I started playing the game when I was eight years old. I played throughout grade school, high school, and even a little in college. I grew up a Dodger fan (my older brother was one). I happened to be living in Milwaukee when the Brewers came to town, so it was time to adopt a new favorite team. Even while the Braves were still in Milwaukee, my dad, my uncle, my cousin, and I would try to catch a doubleheader every summer. When I went from teaching grade school to teaching high school, God dropped a golden ticket in my lap and I got to coach varsity baseball for twenty-four years. Talk about a dream come true! Now my two oldest grandsons play and I get to do it all over again! With your indulgence, because the Milwaukee Brewers are now in the World Series, with this post, I’m going to share some “baseball wisdom” I’ve accumulated over the years.
Did you know God is a baseball fan? Yup, the first verse of the Bible starts, “In the big inning…). Okay, maybe not, but I know he has a sense of humor. Have you looked at an aardvark lately? My assistant baseball coach passed away several years ago and the pastor’s funeral sermon was almost completely based on baseball analogies. It was awesome. Unfortunately, time has dimmed a lot of the comparisons, but I ‘ll try to scrape together a few.
As a former coach, I know baseball is an incredibly complex game. The average fan probably doesn’t even realize all the nuances. When a ball is hit in Little League, it may appear that almost no one is moving. The same hit in a major league game may send all nine players scurrying somewhere. Baseball has a ton of little things which add up to a big impact! At the same time, baseball, as George Carlin stated, is a simple game – just lap the bases once and go home. You do that more than the other team and you win! Likewise, faith can be extremely simple. Acts 16:30-31 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” That being said, we know God’s Word has a lot in it. You could read it for fifty years and still find something new. The “details” of our faith can be complex.
Do we ever make mistakes in our walk with God? Often too many to count! Baseball is often a game of failures. If you make less “errors” than the other team, you have a chance to win. The most successful hitters in the game usually fail about 70% of the time. Where else can you be successful 30% of the time and be paid millions of dollars? Like repentance, baseball mistakes are acknowledged and then serious work is invested in eliminating them. Jesus taught us the value of being humble. Baseball is a very humbling game. Ask anyone who’s played for any length of time and they will tell you just how humbling it is to make an error in front of thousands of people – nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.
The umpire is the arbiter of justice on the field – it’s a ball or a strike, you’re safe or you’re out, the ball is fair or foul. God, of course, is the ultimate umpire. He never makes a wrong call (and he can’t be overruled by some automated strike zone or some guy sitting at a monitor in New York)! The main difference, of course, is the official scorer. When the Holy Spirit is doing the scorebook, he attributes our errors and strikeouts to Jesus, while giving Jesus’ hits and home runs to us!
We can’t possibly make analogies between baseball and faith without bringing in our closer, Jesus. For those of you who are not baseball fans, the closer is the relief pitcher who comes in and finishes the game, saving the win for the team and its fans. John 19:30 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. The game is over. Jesus and his teammates (us) have won. Roll out the red carpet. Pop the champagne. Let the celebration begin!
My favorite and final comparison originated with George Carlin, the sometimes-questionable comedian of years ago. He said baseball, of all the sports, had the objective we all want – go home and be safe. Wow! Truer words were never spoken!