Mondays are for T-Ball Ramblings…

It is spring! At least it was this weekend. Regardless of what the weather is like this week, this weekend was so beautiful that I will not complain about it. The best part of the weekend, however, was spending a couple of days with our good friends Dave  and Amy Terpstra. Dave just finished up as the Teaching Pastor at The Next Level Church and now they are preparing to go to Mozambique as missionaries. Dave and I even team preached yesterday and it was a ton of fun. You can check out the sermon on my podcast

You can check out Dave’s Blog here and Amy’s blog here to hear about their adventures and what they are up to.

If you missed the Washington Capitals winning this weekend, you probably missed this save by their 21 year old goalie as well. Check it out, it was amazing.

New Christians and T-Ball

Have you ever watched 5 and 6 year olds play T-Ball? There is an utter lack of familiarity with any aspect of the game. They don’t know how to hold the bat, they aren’t sure when to run, the forget to pay attention to the ball, they don’t know what to do when they get it, and they really aren’t sure about trying to catch it. My daughters game this weekend was just a pleasure as we watched these coaches try and teach these kids how to play baseball.

It reminded me a lot of watching new Christians. We take for granted how familiar we are with being followers of Jesus. From the way we talk (we do have our own Christianese language) to how we worship, and how we think about God. Often in worship I see people with the dear in the headlights look on their face as they try to decide what they are supposed to do next. It is vitally important that we are mindful of watching for those to whom worship or Christ is unfamiliar, so we, like a coach, can come along side and explain what is happening and make them comfortable.

We also need to have appropriate expectations for what new Christians will feel comfortable with or explain. In my daughters t-ball, there are no outs. Each team just takes turns batting around the order. The other team practices fielding and throwing. The kids all get to practice each part of the game. They all get to hit. They all get to run. They all get to score. There is no expectation that they will understand the beautiful subtleties of the game. Really you just want them to enjoy the game and see how beautiful it can be. I wonder how many new Christians get their excitement for Jesus knocked right out of them by other Christians who expect them from day one to get it? I wonder how many have never come back to the church because someone made a comment about a sin in their life or their lack of understanding that was judgmental instead of encouraging and helpful?

Let’s be mindful of how difficult it is to really get the subtle and complex beauty of our faith. After all the Trinity is a bit more complicated than the Infield Fly Rule, and most of us don’t understand that either.