Daily Prayer, 26 January

It didn’t take the crew long to catch on that I’m a baseball fan. I do have more stories from Major League Baseball than other sports, but to be fair most of our deployments were during baseball season, so the “on this day in history” website I often used for prompts had more baseball items than football or basketball. And I really did do more stories about other things than I did about sports at all. But why fight it. I am a baseball fan.

Pete Rose is one of my favorite baseball players. Before his present situation and difficulties he was known better for how he played the game. From his Rookie of the Year season in 1963 through more than two decades, during which he accumulated 4256 hits (more than anyone ever), three batting titles and three World Series Championships, Rose played baseball with an almost reckless abandon that earned him the nickname “Charlie Hustle.”

A one-time teammate of Pete’s told a story about playing his rookie season with Rose, who was by then an established veteran. When the rookie got to the park for his first game he looked for Rose in the clubhouse, excited for the opportunity to meet him, but Pete wasn’t in the locker room with the team. Instead, the rookie found him in the dugout watching the visiting team practice.

The rookie asked Rose why he was up in the dugout rather than in the clubhouse with the team relaxing before the game. Without looking at him Rose gestured toward the field and said “See that right fielder? I’m going to hit a double off him today.” The rookie chuckled and went back to the locker room to get ready for the game.

When Rose came to the plate to lead off the game for the Reds, he slapped a base hit through the hole on the right side of the infield—an easy base hit. Pete, however, rounded first base without even looking up and barreled toward second. The right fielder–who’d been lollygagging in to pick up the routine play, just like Rose had seen him do in practice—was caught completely off guard and could not recover quickly enough to catch the speedy runner. Standing safely on second, Pete grinned into the dugout at the rookie.

In addition to being a good example of how Rose played the game, there are two other things I love about this story. The first is that it shows how opportunities are often something that we make for ourselves. At that point in his career Rose had nothing to prove to anyone and had earned the right to relax before a game or stop at first on a routine ground-ball base hit, but he never stopped working and looking for opportunities to improve his chances of winning the game.

The second is that we play like we practice. Had that right fielder been taking his practice seriously, Rose probably wouldn’t have challenged him, and even if the challenge had come a hustling play would have nailed him at second. In both our profession and our lives we don’t want to give the enemy extra opportunities, we want to keep him off the bases altogether. The only way we can do that is if we take our practice seriously and are prepared for any challenge.

With proper mental, physical, and spiritual training we can keep the bad guy from taking the extra base, or better yet make him kick the ball while we take it. And either thing might just lead us to victory.

LET US PRAY

Father in heaven, we thank you for the opportunities you provide for us each and every day. Give us the eyes to see them, the courage to grab hold of them, and the strength to take advantage of them. Help us to guard ourselves against the attacks of our enemies—both physical and spiritual—who would keep us blind to our weaknesses and slow to correct them. Be yourself, O God, our guide and guardian, for to you belong all power, honor, and glory, now and forever and to the ages of ages.

AMEN