Perspective

4-6-2009

I just arrived home after a long day on the baseball field. I have the blessing of coaching the top ranked 11u baseball team in the world, the Dallas Patriots, and tonight they won another tournament! Last season, these boys represented our country in Puerto Rico, where they won the World Series in front of thousands of spectators. It was one of the most amazing moments of my life, and I didn't even play!

Baseball is an amazing game, but an even better platform to teach some of the most important life skills. Here's a brief run down on how today's events took place. We played three games today, and they were all back to back to back, so we didn't have any rest in between games. Our first game started at 2pm, and our last game ended around 10pm. In the first game, I witnessed grown men (the other team) fibbing with hopes they could get a call to go there way, and they were teaching their players some very dirty tactics. Moreover, they allowed all of their pitchers to throw curve balls. For the non-baseball fanatics out there, you shouldn't throw ANY type of curve ball until the age of 13 or 14 due to the harm in causes on your arm. Our boys, coaches, and parents stayed calm the entire time and we won the game.

In the second game, the coaches weren't as bad, but they certainly enjoyed begging for calls. However, they did have the tendency to yell comments to "their" players about "our" players. I guess this is there tactic for trying to get in the head of an 11 year old so they won't perform as well. Who knows. Again, our boys, parents, and coaches handled the situation with class.

In the championship game, the other team's head coach was kicked out of the game. He cussed on a regular basis, the parents weren't any better, and we even heard the parents and the coaches yelling at each other, and every one of their players threw curve balls. At the end of the championship game, each team is supposed to line up and accept trophies as each team congratulates each other for making it to the finals. Unfortunately, all we heard from the other teams coaches, was "we have a long drive home, can we hurry this up! We don't have time for this." Again, our families, kids, and coaches handled themselves with class.

After every game we play, our boys get on a knee, grab their teammates hands, and say a prayer, followed by the Lord's prayer. The tournament director approached me after the prayer and said, "coach, that is awesome." I was a little confused as to what he was referring to, and I guess he could tell, so he elaborated. "You just don't see teams pray like that after a game. I really appreciate what you do and how you do it." I said, "that's how we start the day and that is how we finish the day."

When I got home, there was a picture sitting in my inbox of the boys praying. I have posted this picture for all to see because that is what it's all about. It doesn't matter if you win or lose in the game of baseball. What does matter is that you win in the game of life. I am sure many of you reading this right now are going through some tough times in your life. May I suggest we keep things in perspective? After seeing the picture of our little boys sending a prayer up to our Lord, it put me in my place. At the end of the day, winning a tournament is such a temporal satisfaction. Sharing the Lord with others and representing who Christ IS is eternal!

Logan Stout

Application:

1. Are you doing the best you can at keeping things in perspective?

2. What temporal accomplishments are you allowing to outweigh the eternal priorities?

3. Are you doing the best you can at representing who Christ is as a believer in Christ?

4. Read James 1:9-18