Sunday night Michael and I attended our 11 year old grandson’s baseball game near Lake Lewisville. We sat directly behind home plate. Noah’s team was in first place over the weekend tournament with single elimination on Sunday’s games. Noah either plays left field, first base, or he pitches. He was in left field at this particular inning. The score was tied with their opposing team. Several boys on that opposing team were on base when the batter hit the next ball bringing in a runner from third base. The ball was thrown to our team's catcher, who caught it and then reached down to put the runner out at homeplate. The umpire called him out while Michael and I saw that the boy was clearly safe. The next batter hit a ball and the same exact scenario happened once again. A boy was called out when we saw that he too was clearly safe. Our vantage point sitting behind home plate provided us with a postion to judge the call more accurately. The opposing coach approached the umpire to dispute his calls. The umpire stood firm. It didn’t make a difference.
All the while this was going on, the father of our team's pitcher was standing over our shoulders watching closely as his son pitched this inning. He overheard my comments to Michael that the boys were actually safe and commented to me that it was okay the way it worked out because it favored our team. I remarked that it was not right to agree with a bad call that was obviously in our favor. He snapped back, “that’s the way life is!” I told this father that it was not right!
The father totally condoned this action of dishonest gain … “winning at all costs . . . that is the way life is”. After returning home I recalled this scenario and thought about Wall Street and our country’s economy . . . winning at all costs has cost our country their peace and security. It is my prayer that the loss of peace and security in today’s declining economy will be instrumental in leading our country to humble themselves before our almighty God and cry out for His mercy!
Our team lost by one point . . . sending us home. The “game of life” has a lot of unfair moments and is not always played out the way we would want. But, in the end, it is okay if we lose the battle of the flesh here on earth, as long as we are winning the battle and the race set before us of righteous living.
1 Corinthians 9:24 “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.”
2 Timothy 4:7“ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
Hebrews 12:1 [God Disciplines His Sons] “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”
All the while this was going on, the father of our team's pitcher was standing over our shoulders watching closely as his son pitched this inning. He overheard my comments to Michael that the boys were actually safe and commented to me that it was okay the way it worked out because it favored our team. I remarked that it was not right to agree with a bad call that was obviously in our favor. He snapped back, “that’s the way life is!” I told this father that it was not right!
The father totally condoned this action of dishonest gain … “winning at all costs . . . that is the way life is”. After returning home I recalled this scenario and thought about Wall Street and our country’s economy . . . winning at all costs has cost our country their peace and security. It is my prayer that the loss of peace and security in today’s declining economy will be instrumental in leading our country to humble themselves before our almighty God and cry out for His mercy!
Our team lost by one point . . . sending us home. The “game of life” has a lot of unfair moments and is not always played out the way we would want. But, in the end, it is okay if we lose the battle of the flesh here on earth, as long as we are winning the battle and the race set before us of righteous living.
1 Corinthians 9:24 “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.”
2 Timothy 4:7“ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
Hebrews 12:1 [God Disciplines His Sons] “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”
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