Allow me a word specifically for men. It could be for most anyone, but specifically I'm thinking of the men I know: “The ball is coming to you. The ball is coming…to you. The ball…is coming…to you.”
I can still hear my middle school baseball coach—Coach Todd, an unathletic high school kid who loved baseball and turned out to be a great coach—shouting it out as we took infield practice. “Alright men, look alive, the ball is coming to you.” Of course, I never knew if that particular ball was coming to me, but inevitably, the ball was coming to me.
“Be ready on every pitch.”
I stood in position at 3rd as the biggest kid in our league, Rob Sherridan, stepped into the batter’s box. I could hear coach yelling, “be ready,” and this time he was right. The strongest 7th grader in the world hit a rope right at me; probably the fastest moving ball I’d seen in my life to that point. You know what happens when a baseball is coming at you that fast? Fear. I ducked my head and stuck out my glove to the area my head had just vacated….nothing. When I looked up, I saw the left fielder scooping up the ball I had just dodged. Turns out, when you play 3rd base you’re job isn’t to dodge out of the way of line drives; you’re actually supposed to catch the ball.
I knew that I had failed at my job. My team was counting on me to make that play, and I let the ball go by. I hated that feeling. Next time, I was determined to stand in front of the ball and take whatever came like a man.
“Be alert. Look alive.”
Coach was yelling again, and eventually, he was right again. A ground ball down the 3rd baseline. I learned from last time, this one’s not getting by me. I broke to my right, and snagged it on the 2nd bounce behind the bag. The hard part is done, now I just have to throw the runner out at 1st. It’s amazing how fast your internal wheels can begin to spin. In that moment I thought to myself, “It’s a really long throw to 1st base from all the way behind 3rd. I better be careful with this throw so it doesn’t end up going over the 1st baseman’s head.” It didn’t. As I lobbed a carefully accurate toss across the diamond, the runner crossed the bag a full second before the ball arrived.
The missing ingredient was preparation; knowing what you’re going to do with the ball if it is hit to you. One thing I knew for sure, being passive wasn’t getting the desired result. I had sorted out the reality that I couldn’t succeed without taking a risk. Risk of making a mistake, risk of looking bad, risk of letting my team down. Somewhere along the way I also realized that “great plays” are never “easy plays.” Next time, I’d be alert; ready to finish the play.
“Assume that the ball is going to be hit to you.”
“Okay, runner on first, 1 out. If the ball comes to me, I’m taking it to 2nd for the double play. No matter what.” Sure enough, a grounder in the hole between 3rd and short; the mental conversation starts again. I was resolved “I’m going to have to dive…I’m going for it.” It’s such and incredible sensation the way a baseball feels when it hits squarely in the webbing of a glove; I made the grab. As I jumped to my feet and reached into my glove for the ball I had another thought: “This is a really tough play, I’m not sure I’ll be able to make it.” What a crazy thought; the catch was significantly more difficult than the throw. Thankfully, I shouted myself down, "THROW THE BALL!!!" I screamed internally…got him at 2nd.
In the game of life, the ball is coming to you. Might be this pitch, might be the next. But eventually, the ball is coming to you. Days will go by. Time will pass, kids will grow, careers will come and go, marriage will exist, youth will fade, money will be spent and if I’m passive about it all, there won’t have much to show for any of it. Great lives are rarely easy lives.
1 Corinthians 16:13 Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. NASB
Be ready, the ball is coming to you. Know what you’re going to do with it when it does. Do you have a plan for your family, finances, health? Is that plan built on a lasting foundation of faith? Rest assured, the ball is coming to you. You even have the option of ducking out of the way and letting circumstance run it’s course, but our leader is shouting from the dugout, "Be ready!"
Somewhere In the course of things it occurred to me that my coach wouldn’t have put me at 3rd base if he didn’t believe I could make the play, and he was willing to put in the work of building my skills. Coach believed that I had what it took to make the play, and his belief inspired my confidence. I’d suggest the same is true in our lives; God has provided everything we need for us to live the life that He has placed us in. He’s promised to be your provider, He’s promised to never leave you, and He’s promised to give you a Helper in the form of His ongoing presence. He’s even promised that when you are weak, He is strong. You have what it takes, make the play.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
