Two Baseballs (Part 1)

When I traveled to Boston with my two boys a couple weekends ago, my youngest son had something very unusual happen to him. He received a baseball from two different players. The first came from Wily Mo Pena, the new Red Sox outfielder received in the Bronson Arroyo trade.** We arrived early to our game to watch the Red Sox warm-ups. Both of my boys were leaning on the back of the Red Sox dugout and after warm-ups, Wily Mo (that's like "Willy, not Wile, like the coyote) tossed a ball in their direction. Both boys scrambled with others for the potential treasure and my youngest came up with it. There's more to this story, but I'll save that for next week's blog.

He received the second ball from another new Red Sox player, utility man Willie Harris. Harris came into the game to pinch run and stayed in at centerfield, ironically replacing Wily Mo Pena. After between inning warm-ups, Willie threw the ball into the stands. My boys were standing at the rail, but the ball traveled over their heads. My boys thought they missed their chance and came back to their seats. A few seconds later, one of the ushers motioned to Bryan and brought him to the man who caught the ball. The man wanted to give the ball to Bryan!

Here's the connection to the spiritual. Jesus came to give us the gift of abundant life, or as The Message puts it, real life. I love the word "real" because it points to the direction that what we see and touch is not as real as the what we can't see and touch. Since this is not a philosophy blog, I'll stop there, but I will say that every one of us knows there is more to life than meets the eye. Jesus said, "a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." (Luke 12:15) The greatest treasure, Jesus says, is the kingdom of heaven and this treasure only comes as a gift to those who put their trust in Jesus, the king of the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 13:44-46)

The sad truth is that if I am left to myself, I won't seek this treasure of treasures. I will keep digging in the dirt looking for less than spectacular trinkets instead of grabbing onto Jesus and His kingdom. Jesus said that no one can come to Him unless the Father draws him (John 6:44). In other words, I need the Father to "usher" me to Jesus so I can receive Him as my treasure of treasures.

Just as my son needed the usher to lead him to his baseball treasure, we need the Father to usher us to Jesus. The good news of the gospel is that the Father does not want anyone to perish in their trinket seeking (2 Peter 3:9). Instead, He desires to lead all of us to discover the treasure of Christ. Hear the quiet but steady voice of your usher and follow Him to Jesus.

**Red Sox fans are split on the value of this trade, I think Pena has great potential, especially if we can keep him through the Post-Manny Ramirez years which start in 2009, or sooner if the Sox finally trade him. I put this paragraph at the end because some of you are thinking this is a little too much information for you, but hey, it's baseball and baseball is all about the details. If you don't think so, just google "baseball statistics" and you'll be overwhelmed with statistical details beyond your imagination... stats like Jason Varitek has hit a home run on May 20th for 5 years in a row. Will this be the sixth year? I'm happy to hear about things like this, but it is beyond my comprehension that people get paid to research this stuff . That sounds like another blog for another day.