FOOD FOR THOUGHT
(08/16/2009)
FIRST
LOVES
Cindy Hong
I
love baseball. I'm pretty sure I loved baseball before I loved God, getting
my first glove before my first Bible. I couldn't wait for little brother
to grow up and play catch. I counted the hours for Dad to come home and
throw the ball around. During the waits, I went to the backyard and threw
the ball in the air, pretending to catch it like an outfielder. Mom watched
from the kitchen window (probably wondering what happened to the girl
who played with dolls just 2 years earlier). Indoors I measured and marked
off a pitcher's mound on the basement floor and taped a square strike
zone on the wall. Imagining a batter standing at the plate, I would fling
that tennis ball for a “Strike One!” That lasted a few years until I played
league softball. The underhand pitches replaced the overhand ones to the
imaginary strike zone, which laid directly under a window. My career as
a softball pitcher was short-lived. By then Matthew grew into a great
playmate and we spent hours in the backyard pitching and catching, batting
and fielding. My first job was as a little league umpire. Each game paid
$7, but I hardly saw the money as it went directly to buying more baseball
cards (after paying for the broken window). In his novel which was made
into the movie Field of Dreams , W.P. Kinsella sums up my devotion:
“Praise the name of baseball. The word will set captives free. The word
will open the eyes of the blind. The word will raise the dead. Have you
the word of baseball living inside you? Has the word of baseball become
part of you? Do you live, play it, digest it, forever? Let an old man
tell you to make the word of baseball your life.” Looking back, it's as
if baseball gave me a mirror for reflecting my love and passion for the
things of Jesus; or rather, the lack of it. It's easy to love baseball,
comes so naturally. It's harder to follow Jesus, the journey full of starts
and stops, fits and jerks. And yet, despite our first loves, or our many
current loves whatever they are, may we spend intentional moments this
week praising Jesus, digesting God's word, and walking in step with the
Holy Spirit living in us. And, as a result, may we find following Jesus
just a tad more natural.
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