Take me out to the ballgame...

We were in Cleveland over the July 4th holiday, and just happened to find the time and money to catch an Indians game with my son and son-in-law. While the Tribe may be having a less than spectacular season this year, we did see a pretty good game on this particular occasion. The Indians managed to beat Oakland 5-2.

I thouroughly enjoy baseball. When I was a kid growing up in New Haven, you would find my ballglove on the handlebar of my bicycle. Living in a good sized housing addition, it was usually pretty easy to find enough guys (and sometimes a girl or two) to throw together a pick-up game. The elementary school was only a block away, and there were a couple ballfields available.

As I was watching the game Saturday night, I noticed that one of the Indians best players failed to get a hit the entire game, while a new rookie, recently brought up from the farm team had a couple hits and did really well. As you can imagine, it got me thinking. Statistically, baseball players are not normally consistant in their play. By that I mean even the best players don't do that well at the plate. For example, one of the greatest ball players of all time, Ty Cobb, had a lifetime batting average of .367. Consider that the active leader, Todd Helton of the Colorado Rockies, is 24th on this list entering the 2007 season at .334. Tony Gwynn, who is probably the best hitter of his generation, was a lifetime .338 hitter. For Ty Cobb, this translates to only 367 hits out of every 1,000 times at bat. That means he failed to hit the ball nearly 2 out of every three times at bat, and he is considered one of the greatest of all time.

When it comes right down to it, isn't life a lot like a baseball game? We have opportunities, we get chances to make great plays, or sometimes, we just sit in the dugout and watch. And when we do get in the game, chances are we will fail, or at least mess things up pretty good more often than not. And so, statistically speaking, we are pretty much failures in life.

Ah, but there is some good news. God is on our team, and as our coach, he see potential in us. He allows us to make our mistakes, because mistakes help us grow into better people. He doesn't criticize or complain, he helps us find our faults and find ways to improve our abilities for the next game. He leads, guides, and directs not only on the field but off as well.

I may make lots and lots of mistakes...I may even fail to contribute significantly to my game of life. But I know that no matter how bad my batting average is, God still wants me on his team. :-)