This is the baseball I hold in my hands most days while I’m working. It came to me one day in the bleachers courtesy of Kris Bryant. Baseball, like so many games, mirrors life: swings and misses, hits and errors, home runs and strikeouts. Consider this, that a 70% failure rate at the plate over a lengthy career gets you a golden plaque in Cooperstown.
In 1982 one of my favorite sing/songwriters Bob Bennett wrote “A song about baseball”. It’s good primary theology:
Saturdays on the baseball field And me afraid of the ball Just another kid on Camera Day When the Angels still played in L.A I was smiling in living black and white
Baseball caps and bubble gum I think there’s a hole in my glove Three-and-two, life and death I was swinging with eyes closed Holding my breath I was dying on my way to the bench
But none of it mattered after the game When my father would find me And call out my name A soft drink, a snow cone, a candy bar A limousine ride in the family car He loved me no matter how I played He loved me no matter how I played
But none of it mattered after the game When my father would find me And call out my name Dreaming of glory the next time out My father showed me what love is about He loved me no matter how I played He loved me no matter how I played
“I have loved you with an everlasting love” God says to Israel through the prophet Jeremiah. Jesus says to his friends, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.” This love of God for us, this unconditional love, is life’s greatest blessing.
Find the song on YouTube and celebrate!
Peter Hawkinson
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