EXPERIENCING THE ORDINARY----AWAKING TO THE EXTRAORDINARY~

ENJOY THE ADVENTURE OF LIFE

Sometimes when I’m in a crowd, I ask myself some form of that same question….why am I here…in this place and what can I learn from it?

  Several summers ago, I found myself surprised to be experiencing this question at none other than a Little League game….I arrived late to watch my son team play and in the hustle to find a seat in the bleachers, I found myself sitting among the parents of the opposite team.  When the ballgame began, I began my own adventure in mind games……I watched interactions between people….

I watched kids bounce and play…..I listened as the coaches yelled words of encouragement….and just as I was getting tired of all my mind play….

From out of the dugout stepped one of the most pathetic examples of a little league player that I’ve have ever seen.  It was quite apparent from first glance that this little boy was no natural athlete.  His toes pointed in, his arms were way too long for his body….and squinting out from under a cap that was pulled down too low was one of thickest pairs of glasses that I have ever seen….

  Tension in the stands immediately increased!!!!  Parents started yelling… “Come on Robbie, Let’s get ready for that pitch!!!..”   There was lots of clapping and then just silence.  As Robbie stepped up to the plate, just the mere act of lifting the bat seemed to throw him off balance,

The coach yelled, “Come on Robbie, keep your eye on the ball, watch it now!!!”

As the pitch was released, Robbie swung with all his might and the crowd held their breath as the crowd of “Thug” rang as the ball hit the catcher’s mitt. As Robbie’s shoulders drooped and he adjusted his cap as the parents in the stand started to yell… “Great swing…your getting it….keep it up!”

   Once again, the release of the ball…{Thug} and the ball hits the mitt.

By now both sides of the ball park are cheering on words of encouragement for Robbie,

His teammates were chanting from the dugout and I found myself holding my breath along with everyone else in the park and hoping for a hit as the pitcher prepared to release that last pitch…

Thug!  A third time the ball lands in the mitt!  Robbie struck out!

Robbie’s shoulders drooped even lower….and he raised his hands to his face to wipe away the tears that are beginning to creep out….

But as he walks away…..The crowd continues to cheer and clap…..his coach runs over and lifts him in the air yelling… “That was your best swing ever!!! Great Job!!!

His teammates line up as he comes into the dugout giving him high fives and slaps on the butt…..

And do you know what happened next?           
       Robbie smiled. 
 He was clearly disappointed by his lack of a hit, but encouraged by the voices, hands and hearts of the gathered community……

As I watched this scene unfold something extraordinary unfolded from out of an ordinary day of play at a ballpark…It was an encounter of the Holy Kind for I realized that I had just been witness to the Spirit of God at work---sitting right there in the wrong bleacher stand at a kid’s baseball game.  This encounter reminded me …Of why we gather to form community….

Why we wrestle with hard theological concepts…..and most of all, why a community of faith is so wonderful……It was in this experience that I found symbolic witness to the fact that people need people, that the church at work in the world holds great possibility and that the nurture, teaching and love found in  communities provides hope for a better tomorrow…..For the best example of God’s divine presence can be found in the experience of our human relationships and through our interpretations of our connectiveness.

so the next time you are out at the ballpark===TAKE OFF YOUR GLASSES AND LOOK FOR THE EXTRAORDINARY IN THE MIDST OF THE ORDINARY....YOU MIGHT JUST BE SURPRISED WHAT YOU DISCOVER!