He’s Rooting For Me

My Father cannot play the game for me. He cannot step up to the mound and pitch for me. What fun would that be for me? What reward would I get by letting him strike every one out? Would I ever learn to pitch if Father threw for me every time? Why even play the game?

No, Father instead takes me into the backyard and puts on the mitt and sits down behind a makeshift home plate and tells me to throw. He catches pitch after pitch and watches me practice. After several dozen pitches, we take a break and He suggests some changes in my mechanics. He shows me the delivery and grip, and I mirror His movements. He even steps behind me, takes my hand in his and we do the motion over and over in slow motion, all the time He’s asking, “You see? How does that feel? Do you understand how this is better?”

I throw several dozen more pitches and see more strikes. As the ball pops the mitt, Father yells, “Yeah son! Great pitch, you’re getting it! Do it again!” I continue to throw, but I soon get tired, and He stands up and walks over, puts His arm around me and says, “Son, good job. You’re really improving. You’re going to do great tomorrow. Just remember what we’ve worked on. I can’t wait for tomorrow’s game, can you?”.

Tired and happy, I lean under His arm and just smile. Looking over, I didn’t notice, but my big Brother is standing there, big smile on His face. My Brother has gone through this before. He’s played the game, worked with Father in the yard, and went all the championship and won the game. Defeated our rival and humbled him for good. Cost Him everything, but He did it with love because He wanted to see me win the game too.

The game is a lot more intense than I thought. Every hitter wants to knock one over the wall on me, and they all look intense. Every inning has it’s own challenge, and the game is so back and forth. One batter I dominate, the next one hits one up the middle. They even score on me, but I seem to be doing better than the last game. In fact, I seem to be getting better as the season progresses.

The best part is my Father is sitting there, totally focused on me and cheering me on. He’s never criticizing me, just yelling out encouragement. There’s my Brother, right there behind the backstop, hands on the fence, peering through the wire. He seems to know exactly what I’m going through, and I know He’s been there before, so that’s providing me motivation. In fact, I can feel Him inside me. I can’t explain it, but I just sense He’s in my every movement and thought and it makes pitching in this game so much easier for some reason.

My Coach is constantly encouraging me. I have a direct connection with Him, and I look to Him before every pitch. He’s been working with me all season too, and He’s such a good teacher and instructor. I’ve learned the in’s and out’s of the game from Him and the best part is that He’s right on the field with me. He never seems to contradict what Father says, and He sounds and speaks just like my Brother, reminding me of things we’ve worked on and done in the past, and showing me how to face situations when they come up during the game that I haven’t faced before.

With the bases loaded and the count at 3-2, I’m scared to death. The stress of this game is intense and I don’t want to mess this up. I need to throw a strike or I lose this game. I’m sweating, I’m tired. My arm is a little sore and the sun is just beating down on my head.

I look to my Coach and He’s clapping His hands together, “You can do it Bobby. Dig in. Take your time. Focus on the mitt. Trust your arm. Just throw it like you practiced.”

My big Brother is pressed against the fence, big smile, clapping his hands. Looks me right in the eyes and doesn’t say a word. His look was all I needed. That look of confidence says it all for me. He believes in me more than I do. It calms me.

Father is there in his chair, big smile on His face. I know He’s watching the game and everything going around the field, but to me, He only seems to be focusing on me. He doesn’t look nervous. He’s looking at me and He says, “Just remember what we practiced, Bob. Just like the backyard. You can do it. I’m proud of you, son. Just throw it to the mitt.”

As the batter swings and misses, my Coach, my Brother, and my Father are cheering like no one else. They are hi-fiving each other and bragging about me. They all 3 grab me off my feet and swing me around, hugging me and telling me how proud they are of me. It’s only one game in a long season, but after all the bad games I’ve been having lately, this was needed.

It means everything that they cheer me on, especially given the last few games I’ve been plain awful. I’ve gave up a ton of runs, walked a lot of hitters, threw balls in the dirt, and hit a bunch of kids who didn’t have time to jump out of the way. I just couldn’t seem to do anything right, but they didn’t give up on me. I can’t believe they stand by me as much as I screw up in the game. But whether I pitch well or pitch poorly, they are all 3 there game after game, inning after inning, pitch after pitch. When I’m struggling, They are providing encouragement and coaching. When I succeed, they are happier than I am and proud as can be. They are focused during all practices on me and my success. They don’t ever seem to tire of teaching me, encouraging me, or kicking me in the butt when I’m dragging along. There have been many times I got so tired of the game, that I asked to sit out. I even asked my Father and Brother at times to go pitch for me. They didn’t make fun of me for such a silly request, instead they helped get me back out there and keep pitching.

But after today’s success, I got to savor the victory. I got to see the fruit of all that hard work in the backyard. I got to see my Father and Brother bragging about me. I got to see my Coach smile and see His hard work in me pay off. I’m ready for the next game.

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Knowing God or Knowing All About Him

One inconspicuous Sunday, visiting a church to watch my niece get baptized, I heard a message that changed my “walk” forever.

The man delivering the message on this day is not my pastor, but a pastor to our extended family.  He is the pastor of a church where many of my aunts, uncles, and cousins attend, and has been a gift to the family during some extremely painful trials (tragic death of family members) and during times of joy (births and weddings).

Howard said one line that has rung in my head for over 4 years now.

“My prayer is that you would learn to Know God, rather than strive to Know More About Him”

As Howard pointed out, the goal of the Christian life should not be to read a book and be the foremost authority on who God is.  Not that there is value in that, but if you only spend your time on this earth as a student of God, you will never know who he is, or have a chance to experience him in the embrace of a relationship.

I prayed that prayer in my heart with Howard on that Sunday, but I never knew the depth of that request until this past year.  God has been answering that request in so many diverse ways ever since.  Every season of my life since then has been like an onion, peeling back the layers of what this really means.  I find myself not going a week without hearing that in my head, and asking God to keep bringing me to the place where I know Him better, and stop learning about him.

It would take years to explain to you what that has produced in my life, and the trials and tribulations that this prayer has produced.  You’ve read along with me a little bit over the past year, but I can say with 100% assurance, that God heard that prayer and has been answering it ever since.

I love the way Darin Hufford makes the analogy (and I am severely paraphrasing here), “If one of my kids came in to my room and started asking me questions about what I was doing, what I like, what I was working on, etc., I’d be an abusive Father if I halted their questioning and handed them a book, and said – just read my book son, it has everything you need to know about me.”  The book has value, it has truth, and it’s a resource to validate what God is saying in your life, but if you only strive to read and memorize the book, and never stop to speak and listen to the person that wrote it, you’d be missing out on a full and Spirit-led life.

My problem for most of my childhood and early adult life was that I knew the book backwards and forwards, but I never knew the person.  I never heard the person who inspired it.  I never stopped to listen to the person myself, instead relaying on pastors and teachers to speak for him.  I’d speak to him in prayers, but I really never experienced the intamacy of that relationship where I truly felt he was listening to me.

Was I saved?  Yes.

Was I a model Christian? Yes.

Did I teach and lead others according to the book? Yes.

Did I know the man that saved me?  Not really.

Did I know the person I was serving?  Not too well.

Did I truly experience and understand what I was teaching?  Not as much as I once thought.

The past year has been a revelation to get to know him.  To hear his voice at a deep level. To see him work and move in both the mundane and exhilarating experiences of life.  To watch him operate in my life and the lives of those around me.  To know his comfort during difficult trials. To hear him laugh and see him smile in the amazing joyful moments of life.

Maybe they were right. Life must begin at forty.

All I know is that the rest of my time here on earth, and my days in eternity will be about knowing him, not being overly concerned about theology, doctrine, or principles.  It’s about a relationship and spending my time with him and those he surrounds me with. I want this for my wife, I want this for my daughters. I want this for my friends, but I cannot give it to them.  God will not force himself on people – he might interrupt them and save them – but this is a choice we all have to make. An invitation to deep relationship.

It saddens me that there are people who go to church each Sunday and read the Bible regularly, but have no sense of the daily, moment by moment relationship.  Yeah, they are saved.  But they are really missing the gospel in it’s fullness and experiencing love and life from Father because they don’t know him personally.

What are your thoughts on this?  What have you experienced in this revelation?

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Radio Show – Hearing The Voice Of God In Business

Do you have dreams in your heart? Have some of your life long dreams been broken? Do you feel like the dreams you’ve had are now out of reach, unobtainable or dead? Better yet, do you keep asking God what to do, but never seem to hear from Him? Hey, we’ve all been there and it seems to be ‘harder’ to hear God in the buzz of day in and day out business. That’s why Bob and Matt will dive into the mail bag, answer this question and break down a recent blog post on the same subject.

Popularity: 16%

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