Field of Dreams

Our three-year long saga of select summer baseball ended last week with Coby's team, the T.H.A. Stix (T.H.A. stands for Thomas Hitting Academy) winning the Super Series 11U national championship in Round Rock, Texas.

Coby had a wonderful tournament and as his dad I couldn't have been more proud of his accomplishment. Not only was he as good as ever on the mound pitching, but he got hot at the plate and won Offensive MVP honors for the whole tournament. That's something we'll be proud of for awhile, considering he's struggled the last couple of years with the bat at times and had been dropped to ninth in the batting order late this summer.

But he got in one of those grooves last week. It was one of those type deals where everyone in the stands and on the field expected him to hit the ball out of the park every time he came to the plate. He finished with three bombs and was 6 for his last 9 over the final four games.

We had a good time and it was nice to win the big trophy finally. But the entire week I found myself thinking about a lot of things as we went to the ballpark day after day with 25 other teams participating in the World Series. I thought a lot about all the times we've traveled all over parts of five states the last three years, playing select baseball. I would guess that over the last three years Coby has played in between 175-200 baseball games, which is more than a major leaguer in one season. That's a lot of baseball.

But we've missed a lot of church along the way, and deep down that bothers me. We do all we can as a team when we're on the road to give the boys something spiritual on Sundays -- we haven't missed a devotional in three years and I honestly believe our boys are hearing the Word in some fashion while still playing baseball.

But I kept looking at the hundreds of people at the World Series last week and I just couldn't help but wonder -- does EVERYONE at these tournaments every weekend hold a 10-minute devotional with their players? How many times in the last three years has any one of a nameless young man heard anything about Jesus on a Sunday while at a ballpark?

I'm not one of those people who think it's a sin if you miss church just because the doors are open on a Sunday or Wednesday night. Going to church never saved anyone and it never will. What saves someone is that still small voice, and it can be heard anywhere at any time.

But I also believe that church should be a top priority, especially for believers. I hadn't been to a church service in over a month when I attended this past Sunday, and I could feel the groaning in my spirit. I'd missed it. I can only imagine how much my 12-year-old son had missed it all these weekends, despite the little nibbles and nobbles he was getting through a Sunday morning devotional with his teammates.

There is a huge mission field out there, away from church, and I believe for some reason God has put me and Coby on the baseball field around these boys for a reason. Not as an excuse to miss worship. But as a witness to the Light.

I'm not quite sure where all this leads but I really feel a calling to do something in terms of ministry for these baseball kids who are pulled away from church, and their families. Not sure if it means expanding the devotionals to include other teams or even writing devotional booklets specifically geared for young baseball kids. But the message needs to get out as always and we as Christians have to adapt and adjust to God's will.

I don't know, maybe it's the baseball itself. At some point as a parent we have to put our foot down and say you know what, playing 50 baseball games a year doesn't matter if your child ends up missing two months of church and Sunday School. Again, going to church and being involved doesn't guarantee you anything, but it's sure better than a lot of the alternatives.

We do enjoy baseball, and Coby has a talent for it that I believe God has given him. So there's the quandary. But I would ask for prayer that God would show me a way to mix the two and make it a ministry with Kingdom goals while we enjoy the game. And our worship time.