I have a new baseball hero. His name is Vladamir Guerrero and he is a Texas Ranger from the Dominican Republic. I love watching this guy. You can tell he just loves to play baseball. He swings at whatever they pitch him and most times he hits it. Sometimes he hits it into the stands. If he misses, he just laughs and tries again. There will be another at bat.
I have read that his life before baseball was pretty hard, and he is just thankful for what he has now.
I think it is easier to recognize your blessings when they are few. When you grow up in a nice house with warm beds and all you can eat, you start to think you deserve it. You forget to be thankful and generous to others.
We had a very different kind of Mother's Day sermon this morning. This man, a missionary to Muslims in the West Bank, talked about how Hagar was the mother to Abraham's son, just like Sarah. It's in the Bible, we cant just ignore it. I think his sermon was called the Chosen Unchosen. Anyway, I know that as American Christians we tend to write off all Muslims.
He told a story about a Muslim woman who had become a Christian. She was riding in a taxi one day with her young son, when an Israeli militant threw a rock through the window, shattering glass into her eye. After many surgeries some Israeli women came to her to apologize for what the boy had done. The Muslim woman was then able to show these Israeli women the grace and love of Christ. Can you imagine? That story has brought me to my knees today.
It's made me wonder what I am doing here. I can walk into my church and sit in my padded chair anytime I want. No one is going to threaten me. I'm surrounded by other Christians and we don't have to pretend to be anything else.
But sill, I miss so many opportunities to show God's love. We are all waiting for someone to throw us a strike when we should be ready to swing at every pitch. Even if we strike out, we've got to try. There may not be another at bat.
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