I'm a Little League Dad

I know that the sports fans among you are anticipating the arrival of football.  The fall sport really kicks off this weekend, but I've got my mind on baseball.  Little League baseball to be precise!  One of my favorite pastimes is being involved with my son's Little League experiences.  The ball park where he plays is sacred ground to me and it's a mini-vacation every time I go out.  I'd almost swear it's even 10 degrees cooler out there.

 

Some years I've helped coach, some years I've watched from the sidelines, but either way I thrill in knowing that Fall Ball is starting soon. Candidly, I must admit that part of the reason I love it is that I get to be a kid, too.  And I remember, like Bruce Springsteen, my "glory days."    No matter what I'm doing at the Westbury Little League field, I'm doing something Biblical - I'm remembering and I'm participating.

 

Such is the case for the ritual of the Passover, explained by Moses in Exodus 12.  In that passage Moses lays out the plan by which God is going to deliver the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.  Out of their bondage, the Jews will later learn that the "liturgy" he described had to precede their liberation, that relationships came before religion, and that the Passover wasn't all about celebration.

 

Like me at the baseball field, the Jews and Christians alike are called to remembrance and participation in the Passover as a part of God's ongoing plans for liberation of people.  If you'd like to hear more about what I mean, come take part in a series of teaching called Teach Your Children Well, Sundays between now and the end of October.  There will be eight familiar stories of faith for you to talk about with your children and others, as well as a new way of looking at what God was doing then and is doing now.

 

Play Ball!

Pastor Gary

 

Not a Sermon – Just a Thought is a weekly e-column written by me, Gary Long.  I’m the pastor of Willow Meadows Baptist Church in Houston.  To read more of my writing, check out my blog, Life to the Lees.  To subscribe or unsubscribe to this list, just contact me at glong@wmbc.org.

Tough Call - Underoos or Cleats?

So Monday night I was out at the Westbury Little League field serving as a volunteer dad. The deal is this: I go over and umpire a baseball game for other teams when the Brother isn't playing. The dads from the other teams take a turn umping when the Brother's team is playing.

It's a pretty good system, but I have come to appreciate how hard it is to make a close call in any sport as an official. It's hard because occasionally you have to make a tough call.

I'm impressed by these little leaguers. They really do look like big-time ball players. They wear their cleats, their bright socks at the bottom of those short legged white baseball pants, and their jerseys tucked in just so. Pay attention to the part about the pants being "white," ok?

So there I am, standing on that infield/outfield margin about halfway between first and second base. The coach is yelling at a kid in right field about something, "Pay attention! Get your head in the game."

I turned around to see what the coach was yelling about and the kid was bent over picking clover and throwing it in the air. Dangerously, he was also facing away from the action. He bent over again, oblivious to the crowd now chuckling at him.

That's when I saw it.

Through his white pants it was easy to see that he is a fan of Spiderman. We know this because we could all see Spiderman Underoos shining through those white pants.

Underoo's and cleats.

Little boy trying to be a big man.

Tugged by time in two directions.

"Get your head in the game," the grown up is yelling, telling him to pay attention, be responsible, get on the ball, grow up, be mature.

"Let's play just a little longer," his Underoo's beckon, read comics, toss some clover, roll some matchbox cars on the floor, have a tickle fight, tease your sister.

Now that's a tough call says the man who wants to play just a little longer.