The Old Ballgame

And another season begins

Spring it is most good to see you again. Last Saturday I began my 2nd season on the Cincinnati Reds grounds crew. People ask all the time what is it like, but how do you explain the unexplainable?

The best I can do is compare it to a dream-like feeling where after about five minutes you realize you're wide awake and you recognize that your dream has become you're reality.

Being just a small part of the game only reaffirms my belief that baseball is the greatest game ever created. What other sport do managers in their mid 60s wear the uniform of the players? 

Where else do fans of both teams come together for one brief moment to sign "Take me out to the old ball game?" I could on in the ways baseball separates itself from the other sports. 

I look forward to taking in the opening day festivities with family and friends at this end of this month. And if for some ridiculous reason you've never been to a game, may this be the year that you take your place along one of the baselines and come to know the joy of being a part of the old ballgame.

CJE

The Speech of Nonviolence

Nonviolence in action. Birmingham, AL  1963

Whether out of frustration or anger, one possesses the ability to be just as violent with their words as with their hands. Hence the need for the Christian to incorporate non-violent speech into his or her vocabulary.

Speech that speaks in and through love. Speech that does not make demands of restitution, but speech that makes offers of forgiveness. Speech that does not make ultimatums of "them or me," but speech that talks about "us and we." Speech that does not wound or destroy, but speech that heals and rebuilds.

Psalm 16:24 says it this way, "Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones." In a world with wars raging, families divorcing, and churches splitting; what could be more appropriate? What could be more necessary? What could be more beautiful than Christians being a people fluent in the speech of nonviolence. 

CJE

The Proper Meaning of Love

Despite our incredible achievements in science and technology, our society has done much to pervert the meaning of love. So much so that many are asking, "What does it mean to truly love some one or be loved by anyone?

Our culture condones the use of love as a weapon or a bargaining chip if it helps to elevate one's status or advance one's cause. For me, it is in 1Jn 3:16-18 that I find the proper meaning of love...Sacrifice.

Christ showed the depth of his love for us in the robustness of his sacrifice. Not only giving up his place in heaven, but giving his own life that we might live. The enduring truth is that the measure of sacrifice in our lives indicates the amount of love in our hearts.

For Christ did not stop with sweet words of compassion and assurance, but went the distance with powerful acts of sacrifice. May all of us seek to increase the measure of our sacrifice so that we make more room in our hearts for love.