"you will be My witnesses"
Acts 1:8
Baseball again today. I know, right? We've got a couple more weeks and then we're done for the winter. I was sorry to see the World Series end {Congratulations to the St Louis Cardinals; and condolences to the Texas Rangers ~ you'll get 'em next year, guys!} and after two more games, I'll be sorry to see my Amazing Boy's season end.
And for the first time in my Little League history, I was asked to keep score today. I love to keep score; I do it almost every time I attend a major league game. But I've never done it for Little League. I was really nervous at first, not being entirely sure what they wanted from me, and afraid that I'd do it wrong. Scorekeeping is sort of personal. If you're doing it for yourself, it only matters that you understand it, so I've developed my own system of abbreviations. For instance, in my system, a player can be out by DBR. That stands for "Dumb Base Running." But no one but me would know what that abbreviation means. Except maybe my dad. And I think I told my sister. And, well, all of you know now... But the Little League people wouldn't know.
In Little League, a scorekeeper's is most important job is counting the pitches. No one wants to do damage to a young arm, so they are very strict about how many pitches the kids can throw. At the end of every half-inning, the umpire would come over and ask me for the pitch count. And because it was important, I was trying to concentrate, and do my best.
That made me think about professional hockey. NHL teams have a Goal Judge at each end of the ice, whose job it is to turn on a red light if he sees the puck go in the net. What's cool (so to speak) about his job is that he's in a plexiglass booth. Keeps people from dumping their beer or popcorn on them, I guess, but it also cuts down on the noise for him. Cuz I gotta tell you, it was sometimes hard to concentrate today!
And I got to thinking about how it's all up to a flawed human being. Just lil' ole me, doing the best I can. And that's okay. The League officials know that mistakes are going to be made, but they're not going to be big mistakes, and they trust that each Scorekeeper is going to do their best.
Same with the umpires, for that matter. Even in the major leagues. In every sport, really. Humans, as scorekeepers and referees, relying on their eyes and ears and brains. Sounds like far from a foolproof system, doesn't it? And yet, it's exactly the system God had in mind. How do I know?
Twelve disciples. That was His plan to spread the gospel.
Matthew 28:19 ~ "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations..."
Mark 16:15 ~ "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation..."
Luke 24:47 ~ "Repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in My name, to all nations..."
John 21:17 ~ "Feed My sheep..."
There's an old joke about the angels asking Jesus what His plan was for spreading the gospel to all the world. And when He told them, they paused and asked, "Do you have a Plan B?"
Nope. We're it. So who told you? Who told you about God's love, and Jesus' death and resurrection? Who told you about His mercy and His forgiveness of sins; about heaven and hell? And more importantly, who have you told?
His plan is flawed, because it's based on us. But it's perfect, because it's His plan. Weak, self-centered, forgetful, error-prone humans. But also sincere, and willing to do our best. That's the plan.
~ "You who bring good news to Zion,
go up on a high mountain.
You who bring the good news to Jerusalem,
lift up your voice with a shout,
lift it up, do not be afraid" ~
Isaiah 40:9
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