Sandlot lessons

My Pop was an imperfect man.  He was also an imperfect coach, although I don't find too many flaws in his philosophies and styles (in fact, none spring to mind at the moment).  But he was, despite his imperfections, truly great.  Granted I haven't had as many coaches in life as many others, but he was far and away the best I had.  Much of what he drilled into us, even after years of not having picked up my glove, still runs through my head.

If you're going to slide, slide!  He who changes his mind trades a good leg for a broken one.

Use two hands!

Keep your eye on the ball.

Hustle.

Always run it out - and don't watch the all after it hits the bat!

We have been going through Philippians in the sermon series in our church recently, and that last piece of Pop's teachings came to mind as we reflected on the verse I shared on the blog the other day:  forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead...

The passage talks about life, especially the Christian life, as a race.  Perhaps not a sprint, but definitely a marathon.  As a former athlete (at least I like to think so) and one who still really loves sports (though admittedly with my butt in a chair rather than on a field), I love this word picture and find it easy to relate to.  In fact, I'm also learning a chunk of Scripture from Hebrews 12 which talks about stripping off the encumbrances we have so that we can run with endurance the race set before us.  It talks about training, discipline, strength... there are several other NT passages that follow the same images.

But reflecting on forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead brought a picture to mind, as I said, of what Pop taught us:  hit the ball, run it out, and don't watch the ball or the play.  Do you know you can actually run faster if you're facing forward than you can if your head is turned or focused on something other than the prize?

As many who know me can testify, I was a slow enough runner as it was; I needed every advantage I could get to make it to base safely!

Perhaps it's logical to you, to face forward as you run.  To me, though, it wasn't intuitive.  As a kid, I wanted to see how far I'd hit it, if they caught it, if they were going to get me or not, if I was a game progressor or if I'd made another out.  My coach, however, wanted my eyes on two things (good thing my eyes are so far apart on my head so I could see both) - two things that were ahead of me, in front of me - my base coach, and the base itself.

How true this principle is in life, isn't it?  We are prone to take our eyes off the goal (Philippians 3 calls it the upward call of God in Christ Jesus).  We are prone to focus on our accomplishments, our failures, our circumstances, our enemies and opposition, our experiences, our past, ourselves.  Remember Peter, who Jesus enabled to walk on water in a storm?  What happened when he took his eyes off Jesus?

I suppose you can take Pop's other lessons from the ball field and apply them to life:  Use two hands!  (I probably say that to Grace a hundred times a day.)  Really, though, why not take a little extra effort to do things well?

Hustle!  Why sit on your butt and let others (and life) pass you by?

If you're going to slide, slide!  Don't second-guess yourself.

But for me, starting this new year (one week down, 51 to go)... for me, the one that I need to get better at is to run it out, with my eyes forward.

Fixed on the Prize.

Focused on my Coach.