From Pastor Bill

All three of our children played baseball in organized leagues growing up.  At first, it was a lot of fun, and one of our kids even played on a team that was undefeated.  But then, my wife and I finally decided to give up on baseball altogether, and for the following “reasons.”  See what you think!

• Every time we went to a game, they asked for money, wanted us to sell donuts for a fund-raiser, work in the concession stand, or help pick up trash under the bleachers after the games.
• The people whom we sat with were not always friendly.
• The seats were too hard and not at all comfortable.
• We went to many of the games, but the head coach never came to visit us in our home.
• Several times the umpires made a decision that we could not agree with.
• We often found ourselves sitting with hypocrites. They just came to see their friends and what others were wearing, instead of really concentrating on the game.
• Some of the games went into extra innings, and we were often late getting home.
• It seemed like the games were usually scheduled when we wanted to do other things.
• As we each look back on our respective childhoods, we feel that we were taken to too many games by our parents when we were growing up.
• We recently read a book on sports, and now we feel that we know more than the coach anyway.
• Finally, we don’t want to force our children to go to any more of the games because they need to pick the sports they each like best of all.

Actually, baseball is my favorite sport.  So having made those remarks “tongue-in-cheek,” let me just offer a word of encouragement to so many of you who are involved in faithful service to our Lord’s Kingdom.  When your motives are pure before Christ and you are heavily involved in His ministry, Almighty God is actually using you to touch lives in significant ways.  If you think about it, there is nothing else anywhere in all the world like this.  I mean, where else does anyone get that experience of allowing God to use them as they serve Him in their sweet spot?  In fact, I would dare say that getting involved in faithful service to our Lord’s Kingdom colors the entire landscape of your spiritual life.  That is, if you are passionately involved in ministry, you will even pray differently.  With this in mind, may God bless you as you invest your life in service to Him!

Devotedly your pastor,

Bill Blanchard