A Lesson on Dedication

Back in January, my son started his Spring baseball season by going to an evaluation day.  The coaches of his age group then got together and had a draft.  We knew who our coach was going to be because I was planning to assist him, which meant Thaddeus had to be on his team.  We began practice in mid-February and have played twelve games so far.  Our season will continue until until the beginning of June, but an All-Star team has already been selected.  This team practices three times a week and will play in four tournaments during the Summer, practicing when they don't play.  Our coach is assisting with the All-Star team which means he is in Rodeo for baseball five days a week.  Once we begin to play teams in San Pablo, he will be here six days a week.  That may not seem like much until I tell you that he lives and works in San Francisco.  That means, he makes the drive to and from the City five times a week to coach baseball and work with these kids.  He is a fantastic coach and Thaddeus has really improved this season under his coaching.  I am amazed at the level of dedication the coach has to the kids because he get paid a big, fat nothing to do all of this.  He is simply a volunteer who loves to see kids do well with baseball.

This past weekend, our team traveled to Pittsburgh for an away game and it struck me at the level of drive and commitment Thaddeus' coach has.  During my quiet times the past two days, God has been speaking to me about my own commitment to Him.  Here I have an example of someone who is not saved, but willing to sacrifice so much of himself, and I compare that with how little sacrifice I am willing to make.  I easily get discouraged or find reasons to not visit someone or pray or prepare more diligently.  I wonder what the Church would look like if all members of Hillcrest were as committed to Christ as this coach is committed to baseball and kids.  How would our church be different?  How would our community be different?  I think about the lives which would be touched with the Gospel and the impact our faithfulness would have on those around us.  Instead, many today seem to see Church and serving the Lord as something which we do when nothing will interfere with that commitment.  But the moment our family plans a party or we don't get enough sleep on Saturday night or the sermon goes longer than we would like, we drop church.  We sleep in, even when we are scheduled to be involved in an area of service.  We go to that gathering or that ball game because, after all, "It's only one Sunday".  

Where are you willing to serve?  What sacrifices are you willing to make because of your commitment to Christ and others?  What does your church service and support look like?  Are we a good example of commitment to those around us.  Jesus reminded us in Matthew 6:24, "No one can serve two masters.  Either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other."  Who is your master?  Let's learn a lesson on dedication from this baseball coach and passionately serve the Lord, His Church and our church family!