It was great to be back home after spending a few days at the beach. First, a few days with just Vev and me. Then a few more with my daughter and granddaughters.
Thank you for singing Happy Birthday. A big thanks to Vev for wanting to share my birthday by bring the Krispy Kreme doughnuts.
Very Important Information:
I apologize to you for monopolizing the time for our lesson this past Sunday. I have tried to get through information and give some time for your comments. I realized this past Sunday that many of you are politely waiting for me to stop speaking. I would like for you to bring forth your comments and questions at any time. God is moving & working in our class. Some of you have experiences and insights that can help others better understand God's purpose for their lives. So do not hesitate to speak forth!
I am confident that Mrs. Pat has the same feelings on this subject!!!
I am sharing this article (URL link & here) because I feel that it comes from the heart. It also makes a great illustration about a baseball term and play about which we often forget. I am also prejudice because I had the honor to coach this young man.
Baseball and the Beauty of Sacrifice http://erlc.com/article/baseball-and-the-beauty-of-sacrifice
APR 2, 2015
David Prince is the Pastor of Preaching and Vision at Ashland Avenue Baptist Church, Lexington, KY and a professor of Christian preaching at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Baseball and the Beauty of Sacrifice
Wayne Mitchell was not simply the head baseball coach at
Robert E. Lee High School in Montgomery, Ala. He was a local baseball
institution. He attended Robert E. Lee High School as a student and excelled on
the baseball team. In 1964, Mitchell graduated from Lee and enrolled at
Huntington College where he was a star left-handed pitcher. As a freshman, he
was 5-0 with a 1.00 ERA, and when he graduated, he held the school record for
20 career victories.
After college, he became an assistant baseball coach at Robert
E. Lee High School from 1971-1974. He left to become the head coach at
Huntington College from 1975-1978 and then returned to Robert E. Lee as the
head baseball coach in 1980. When I was playing Dixie youth baseball for the
National League in Montgomery, Ala., I dreamed of wearing that distinctive “L”
emblazoned on a fire red baseball cap for Robert E. Lee and playing for
Mitchell. I will never forget the first time I put on that Robert E.
Lee High School baseball uniform in 1984.
I did not know it at the time I made the team, but in 1978
Mitchell had been diagnosed with cancer. In January 1986, my senior year,
Mitchell began experimental cancer treatments that prevented him from being
with the team. Jim Arrington had the unenviable task of filling in for a local
baseball coaching legend during that season. Our team prayed for coach at every
practice. On two occasions, I visited him in his home with one of my teammates.
On those visits he would not talk about himself, but he lit up when he talked
about the team.
Mitchell was a Christian, and it was evident in the way he
coached baseball and the way he persevered in the face of cancer. He could be
stern, like the day he told me to decide whether I wanted to be a rock star or
a baseball player, and if it was a baseball player, I should get my hair cut. I
heard it as a command, not a request. He was a walking encyclopedia of baseball
information and strategy, but it was very evident that coaching high school
baseball was far more to him than a way to earn a living. I did not think about
it this way at the time, but reflecting back, I think it baseball was his
mission field. Now, I am not suggesting he was overtly evangelistic, because he
was not, but that he saw coaching baseball as a way he served Christ.
He never made it back to the baseball field, dying shortly
after the 1986 baseball season.
Seeing coach’s lessons in a new light
To say that I wasn't very reflective as a high school
student and athlete would be an understatement. I had always loved baseball,
and Coach Mitchell knew as much about the game as anyone I had ever met. Three
years after graduating high school, I became a Christian while following in
Mitchell's footsteps playing baseball at Huntington College. It was then I
realized just how much Mitchell had impacted me. It was very common for me to
be in a Bible study and link what I was learning to life-lessons Mitchell had
taught me on the baseball field. I would hear his voice in my head and began to
understand that he had been teaching me more than baseball.
Winning by routine plays
One of his mantras was that baseball games are not won or
lost by spectacular plays. According to Mitchell, baseball games were won or
lost by routine plays. He would say that everybody loves the home run, the
strikeout, the diving catch, but there are plenty of players who can do all of
those things and make too many mistakes on routine plays. He drilled into our
heads that playing time was dependent upon consistency and making the routine
plays.
He also taught us that one of the most beautiful plays in
baseball was a sacrifice. I distinctly remember him saying, "If someone
hits a home run or makes a diving play, I don't care what you do. But, if
someone lays down a sacrifice bunt or hits a sacrifice fly to move a runner
over, then you better be out of that dugout cheering them when they
return."
The Beauty of Sacrifice
Mitchell helped teach me about the beauty of sacrifice on a
baseball diamond. I began to understand something of the importance of
sacrifice for a cause bigger than the individual before I ever came to saving
faith in Christ. When I read that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for
us” (Rom. 5:8), and that Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after
me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matt. 16:24), I
could not help but think about baseball and about coach Mitchell, and that is still
the case. The first time I read about that the great missionary, William Carey
who said about his ministry, "I can plod. I can persevere in any definite
pursuit. To this I owe everything,” I remembered Coach Mitchell telling us to
focus on consistency and making the routine play.
Passing on the Legacy
I was probably one of those players that Mitchell assumed he
wasn't making much of an impact on at the time. One of the most embarrassing
moments of my high school years was the time Mitchell asked me to lead the team
in quoting the Lord's Prayer at the end of practice. There was a moment of
awkward silence that probably lasted 5 seconds, though it felt like five hours,
until I said, "I'm sorry coach, but I don't know it.” He quickly said, “No
problem. I will lead us."
Well, I do know the Lord and his model prayer now. In fact,
by a miracle of God’s grace, people now call me pastor and a seminary
professor. My love for the game of baseball and the influence of courageous and
gracious men who also loved the game, like Mitchell, have helped form and shape
my life.
I am thankful for the many lessons I have learned over the
years on a baseball diamond. No one will ever convince me that baseball is not
the greatest game mankind has ever known. I have passed many of those lessons I
learned while playing the national pastime down to my three sons as I have
tutored them in the great game. My oldest son will be graduating high school
this year, twenty-nine years after my last season wearing a Robert E. Lee
baseball uniform. I wish he could have met Coach Wayne Mitchell. In a sense he
has, through what coach taught me, which I have passed on to him.
I am thankful for a great baseball coach who taught me about
more than baseball. I think it would please him to know that I am still trying,
as a Christian, to consistently make the routine plays, celebrate the beauty of
sacrifice, and help my children and others to do the same.
What about you? Is there somebody whom you need to say "thank you" or let them know what an influence they have had on your life. Do not hesitate, tell them now!
