FAITH, A BALANCING AGENT IN LIFE

FAITH, A BALANCING AGENT IN LIFE

As I was looking through a devotional guide this morning, I ran across some words written by Orel Hershiser.  I was excited when I realized this was the same man who won the CY Young award, and World Series MVP in 1988.  In that same year, he was THE SPORTING NEWS pitcher of the year, and SPORTS ILLUSTRATED sportsmen of the year.  He was 3 times an all star, received a gold glove award, Babe Ruth award, and MVP in both the American and National league.   He was one of the better hitting pitchers and even as a pitcher; he received a silver slugger award, with a spectacular 201 batting average. 

This is quite an impressive resume in anybody’s mind, but these awards only touch the surface of the amount of awards he won throughout his career.  But to me, far more important were the words that I read that he had written in the devotional. 

 “It’s my faith that lifts me up when I have failed.  It’s my faith that reminds me of my insignificance when the world has been laid at my feet because of my success throwing a ball.  To call myself a Christian and then not to strive to be the best I can be and do the most I can with what he has given me would be the height of hypocrisy. “

  “My faith has been a balancing agent in my life, Christ thrills me with who I am, and reminds me gently who I am not.  When I suffer, I know I am still loved.  When I am on top of the world I remember that my accomplishments mean nothing in light of eternity. “

What an awesome philosophy!  His words in these two paragraphs alone speak volumes to me.  My faith is the only thing I have that keeps my life in proper check and balance.  Sometimes my relationship with Christ causes me to be thrilled by who I am, and the uniqueness in which he has made me.  Then along beside that thrill comes the reality of realizing what and who I am not. 

Throughout my grade school and high school years, baseball was the real love of my life. It was the only sport in which I really excelled.  And although like most kids, I had that secret desire to play in the major leagues.  Reality set in early on during my senior year, however when I finally realized I was about as tall as I would ever be, and my skills hardly matched that of Yogi, Mantle and Stan The Man.  But even with my size, I managed to make the first team every year.  I even played on a few championship teams from little league through High school. But I had to come to grips with what I was not.  And I was certainly not major league material.

But faith, through my relationship with Jesus Christ is what keeps me balanced, grounded and consistently in the Word.  That fact gives me comfort in time of weakness, or in times of suffering.  I rest assured knowing he loves me, even if I can’t hit the 450 ft. home run, or steal 60 bases in a season.  I can still manage to hit a single every once in a while.  And if I am extra blessed, I might even hit a double or triple or even an “inside the parker”.  And there is one thing for sure I can do.  I can stand along the side of Orel and eagerly say; we are on the same team.  And we definitely have the same AGENT.

 Dock Caton 4/2/2012