AARON CONRAD

Have you ever heard the phrase “everything in life revolves around sports”? Tonight would be another one of those cases I do believe. You see, after hitting a couple of homeruns this weekend, I was feeling pretty good about myself (see Rounding Third and Heading Where Post below). So much so that I was bragging that we should bring back the homerun trot. Although I was very much kidding and being sarcastic, I was feeling pretty good none the less. Well isn’t it just like the Lord to quickly remind us that we are to not be proud, boastful or arrogant? Tonight I show up to the old ball park ready to hit some more and show off this re-discovered power stroke. Well, after walking in my first 2 at bats. (That’s right…I walked TWICE in softball), I entered the box ready to hit. After running the count to 3-1, I took a Hercules size hack at ball 4 and missed it terribly. So now we are 3-2 and I know the suspense is killing you. Strike 3 laughed at me as I watched it go by. Bat on my shoulder, as I heard the dreaded “STRIKE THREE…YOUR OUT!” (Yeah…I struck out in softball!) So what is the lesson in all this? Well, Galatians 6:14 reminds us that “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,”. On the way home I was quickly reminded of that verse. Almost audibly, I could hear it ringing in my head. Maybe I was trying to drown out that strike three call, but the point is that there was a lesson to be learned. Lord let me only boast in your cross. Matthew 16:26 says “what good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?” In other words, what good would it be for me to go 4 for 4 with 4 homeruns and not acknowledge who I am because of what Christ has done. So while the strike out doesn’t sit real well with me right now. Tomorrow I will boast in the cross and leave homeruns and strike three’s behind.