Giving Back the Baseball

Christian Lopez, a  23 year old phone salesman, paying off six figures of debt, held it firmly, admiring the baseball. Christian was in the left field bleachers of Yankees Stadium on the night that Derek Jeter accomplished one of the rare feats in professional baseball as he hit safely for the 3000^th  time. The baseball on the receiving end of the bat was an instant collectors items worth perhaps as much as one million dollars. 

As Mr. Jeter took his historic swing Christian was holding his camera in hand snapping a picture. He got more than the picture: he saw the ball coming directly toward him. As Christian puts it in one story covering this event, the ball just rolled in front of him and he dived on it.

Instant millionaire, right? Nope. Christian gave the ball back to Mr. Jeter.  When people started asking Christian how he could give away something worth so much money he said simply that the milestone baseball belonged to the man who made the milestone.  Some compared it to giving away a winning lottery ticket.  It didn't matter to Christian. He held it,  but it wasn't his to keep.  

The prophet Malachi passed along God’s simple request:  "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse...Test me in this...and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it." (Malachi 3:10) 

Giving back to God some portion of what we have is just ‘giving back the baseball’ to the one to whom it really belongs.

I am blessed to be the pastor of a church filled with generous souls who are just like Christian. Their gifts each week, even though we were ‘closed’ to public worship, have been one of the many wonderful benefits of leading a church through the pandemic. Our story is not unique.

I know that some say the Church is dying. While some churches will die, I believe the ‘Church’ is alive and well. The people of God, like those I am blessed to be in community with, will not let the Church be another victim of the virus.

Thank you, dear friends, for keeping Hope alive.

Making Our Own Parade

Lest our children forget, history should note that today there are no public parades.  There are no municipal fireworks.  Today, this Independence Day 2020, is unlike any I have every known and, I pray, unlike any our nation’s next generations will know.

Today, instead, the children of the United States will hold their private parades, towing wagons and riding electric scooters down their streets, probably not really caring whether anyone comes out to watch their salute to freedom.  Because celebrating is fun. Families will shoot off their private fireworks because, well, loud noises and sparkling fire lighting up the night sky never fail to awaken our sense of pride, that we are part of a nation born from a revolution to gain freedom from a king’s rule to be replaced by a government of, by and for its people.

The celebrations are not happening in public places, at least not officially, but the American spirit still should be celebrated, even if from home. The ideals which the 4^th of July celebrations represent ought never to be left on the shelves of our minds.

President John F. Kennedy, on January 20, 1961, and following a bitter, razor-thin election held 60 years ago, said this:

“We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution.  Let the word go forth…to friend and foe alike, that the torch had been passed to a new generation of Americans…proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.”

“…whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice we ask of you. With a good conscience as our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own.”

The revolution birthed an experiment that continues today.  We are making our own parades because the revolution is not over, our purpose is not ended.  Because God’s work is still our own.