This past Saturday, my son's baseball team had a road game in Pittsburgh which is thirty minutes from our home. One of our best and most versatile players was not able to make it to the game. Kyle can play any position well and is the bats second in the line-up, so he would be missed. The coach changed the batting order by moving Thaddeus up to the number two spot from his usual number five spot. That is a lot more pressure, but he handled the pressure by going 3 for 5 with a single, double, triple and three RBIs. He also put the ball in play on his other two at bats. He started the game at his usual spot, catcher and played there for three innings. But the coach moved him to shortstop in the fourth inning, a position had has not played nor practiced this year. In the final inning, he started at first base and played there for the first two outs. The pitcher began to have control issues and walked six batters while only getting two outs. So the coach put Thaddeus in at pitcher, knowing that there was no one else on the team who could pitch since we had used all of our pitchers up already. Thaddeus threw four pitches, three of which were strikes. So he struck out the final hitter to end the game. Thaddeus played four positions and had to hit in a pressure spot in the line-up and was brought in to close the game. He showed his versatility during this game. As a father, I was proud of my son - Not because he had played well, but because he had earned the confidence of his coach. His coach is fantastic and is one of the best coaches in our league. He doesn't put a player in a position unless he is confident that player can handle that position. Thaddeus has worked hard throughout this season and been willing to do whatever was needed to help the team. This had made him versatile, which built the coach's confidence in him.
Before you think I am simply bragging on my son (Which I am...a little), I began to think about the lessons I could learn from this game. As I was reflecting on the game in the first few minutes after it ended, I began to wonder how versatile I am in serving the Lord. I thought back to the days of my youth when God was calling me into the ministry. I told Him that I was willing to serve and do whatever He wanted...as long as I didn't have to be a pastor. The pressure of that position and the unrealistic expectations people have of pastors just scared me to no end. I didn't want to have to deal with people having unexpressed expectations of perfection and I certainly didn't want to run a business meeting at church. I had seen enough of people playing power games in the church to jade me for life. Fast forward to being 29 years old and serving as the Campus Minister (Director of Christian Activities was the official title) at Hawaii Baptist Academy. A church on the Big Island had expressed an interest in me being their pastor. At the time, I was single, you and had no experience as pastor, so I felt fairly safe in knowing that no church would ever want me as their pastor. However, one Monday afternoon, my phone rang. Without answering the phone, I already knew what the call was about. Has that ever happened to you? I knew it was someone from the pastor search committee of that church and I gave thought to not answering the phone (This was before caller ID). I answered the phone and, sure enough, it was the chairman of the pastor search committee. Now I was faced with what I told God I never wanted to do. I was faced with the struggle of being a pastor. The question really came down to obedience. I certainly had no experience and little training to be a pastor. I certainly didn't fit the mold of a pastor. I certainly was thrilled to be serving where I was serving. BUT what did God want me to do. God wanted me to be versatile. He wanted me to step up and do something that was way beyond my comfort zone. And so I followed the leading of the Holy Spirit to become the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Waimea.
On Saturday, as I remembered my call to FBC Waimea, I began to think about how versatile I was now. I am a person who isn't the most flexible. I have my schedule and daily list. I get focused on those things and I grind it out. There are a lot of things I may not be, but one thing you can count on with me - I am predictable. Unfortunately, I often bring that mindset to service and allow myself to be inflexible. Under the guise of being disciplined, I miss opportunities to serve in ways that stretch me. I like being comfortable and don't like getting pushed outside that zone. As I reflected on Thaddeus' play, I realized that God was showing me how I need to have my eyes more open to His leading and a willingness to do that my Coach tells me to do.
The definition of versatile is "capable of doing many things competently". That may be a good sports definition, it misses the mark when reflecting on faith and service. Being versatile in our service means "capable of letting God utilize you to do whatever He leads you to". We have never been called to competency (Although we should never use this as an excuse to not strive for being competent in every aspect of service), we have been called to faithfulness. I have often found that God leads us to opportunities which are beyond our abilities. Paul put this into perspective in I Corinthians 2,when he says, "When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power."
So what and were is God leading you? Are you versatile and ready for a new adventure? Are you willing to do something which you have no competency, but only the power of the Holy Spirit? Learn the lesson from an eight year old and play the position in which THE Coach puts you!
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