July 22 – “On baseball-loving your kids”

We went to a baseball game yesterday.  No, it wasn’t the Astros.  They did win, though.  Out in California somewhere.  Verlander had eleven strikeouts and Springer hit a grand slam.  Great game.  But that’s not the one we went to.  Ours was a tad closer to home. 

We headed over to the airport baseball fields (about a mile from our house) to watch our speedster little neighbor Brennan play in a Little League machine pitch all-star tournament game.  His Mom and Grandma were all there, and after finagling some hectic personal life scheduling, Dad was present as well.  I love Brennan’s Dad’s commitment to Brennan’s love of baseball.  Even though he really didn’t know the game (Dad is a fabulous musician – the other side of the spectrum from organized sports), Corey has learned a lot since Brennan started playing.  I’m really proud of that guy (Corey, I mean).

Brennan did really well.  He is by far the fastest short guy I have ever seen since Jose Altuve.  But sadly, the final results weren’t good news as in the Astros’ case.  But any time I can enjoy watching baseball, especially kids playing baseball, I will jump at the chance.  Why, even on our 25^th wedding anniversary trip to Maine (that was a long time ago, by the way), after a long few days of looking at lighthouses and taking in the beautiful scenery, Chris asked me what I wanted to do.  So guess where we ended up?  We walked over to a Little League field near the Bed and Breakfast and watched some baseball. 

The other thing that really encouraged me yesterday happened not on the field, but in the stands.  Well, two things, actually.  I caught a foul ball.  No error.  No bobbling.  Clean fielding all the way.  That was a bonus.  The other thing was the presence of the pastor of our local First Baptist Church.  His son is on Brennan’s team, so he was there to cheer them on.  And cheer he did.  Not wild and crazy, though.  Just a calm, encouraging stream of positive words to the boys as they approached the plate and again as they returned to the dugout.  And later I saw on social media that the pastor of another of the larger churches on the Island had been at his son’s baseball game as well (His boy is older than Brennan so they were at a different field).  I’m sure there was some more encouragement flowing at that field as well.  Nice job, John and Aaron.  Proud of you guys, both for carrying on the baseball tradition and for being encouragers.  Keep on baseball-loving those kids of yours.  It will be a life-changing memory for them.

Psalms 85:10 says, “Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other.”

Father, thank you for Dads who love their kids.  Enough said.  Amen.