What I learned from hitting a baseball

 I grew up watching my Dad play fast-pitch softball. To this day I remember the unique experiences of the game. The sound of the ball hitting the catcher’s mitt and reverberating off of the wooden grandstand. The sound of the PA announcing the next hitter. The smell of peanuts and Cracker Jacks (just like the song says). The chasing of foul balls.

 It’s no surprise that when I was old enough, I signed up to play baseball. (Yes, that is a picture of the first year I played baseball. Our team came in first and we all got trophies. Back then only the champions got trophies.)

 My dad taught me how to hit. His instructions over the years coalesced into a few simple admonitions : shouted slogans from the dugout.

“Keep your eye on the ball!”

“Swing level!”
“Make contact!”

“Make him come to you” (meaning don’t swing at bad pitches)

 The one my dad used to say that always stuck with me was, “If it’s a strike then hit it!” This turned into the mantra that I rehearsed in my inner dialogue when I was at the plate.  I didn’t try to guess which pitch was coming, I kept it simple. If the pitch was a strike, I would try to make contact.

 I saw my dad hit, so I just imitated what I’d seen.

Hold on cause I’m going to make a strong right-hand turn into the church parking lot by asking:

What if we treated church more like the ball field?

What if we taught the fundamentals of following Jesus like the fundamentals of hitting?

What if one generation handed off faith to the next in a learn by example that turns into a learn by doing?

What if we lived our faith like a championship team wins pennants?

Learn by doing

Whenever I had a tough day hitting, Dad would offer to throw tennis balls to me in the back yard and we’d go over the fundamentals. Inevitably I’d get my swing back. In a similar spirit, I met with a young friend of mine who had recently decided to get more serious about his spiritual habits. We met at a restaurant, and he asked, “Can you teach me to pray?”

 I offered to help like this:

“If you really want to learn how to pray, then let’s meet next Tuesday at the church and we will pray together!” (l thought I would throw him some tennis balls when nobody else was watching.)

He agreed.

 When I say he’d never prayed before, what I mean is that he was completely uncomfortable with praying out loud and intimidated by his lack of experience in talking to God. The day we met at the church, I told him to sit and listen to me talk to God. I warned him that in ten minutes I was going to ask him to do what he saw me do.

 I began to talk to God while he watched and listened. Nothing formal. Just reaching out to God with words. Eventually I turned to him and said,

“Now you try.”

 He tried a couple of words but faltered. In defeated honesty he said,

“I don’t know what to say.”  I simply said, “Why don’t you try talking to me first and tell me something that is true about God.” Without much trouble he told me a couple of things about God’s character.”

 I said, “Fantastic! Now, personalize it and tell God in prayer what you just told me.” What happened next was beautiful. Almost like I’d given him the key to unlock the door of prayer, he began to talk to God. Once he got out the first sentence, the words began to flow. He prayed for 3- 5 minutes without an awkward moment. After that he never looked back.

 Three months later he sent me a text picture of his three-year-old daughter with her head bowed in prayer. He’d taught her. The Kingdom of Jesus is a learn by doing endeavor that is supposed to pass from one person to another.

 Think about it:

Who would ever care about a baseball team whose players did not know how to hit?

Why do we imagine that the world would be compelled by a church where the followers of Jesus can’t pray with authority, speak of the Bible with competency or love your neighbor like you love yourself.

 I loved baseball not because my dad talked about it. I loved baseball because my dad actually played the game. He simply invited me into his fastpitch world and I caught the bug without trying. Isn’t this the way the Kingdom of Jesus is supposed to pass to others

Caught more than taught. Osmosis more than forced feeding.

When your church is deciding “here is how we make disciples”, ask them to think more like spring training and less like a classroom. Build a culture that trains by doing and where everyone is accountable for their own spiritual progress. Build a championship atmosphere where the older “throw tennis balls” to the younger until they figure it out.