Safe!

I have always been a fan of baseball my entire life. When I was little I would collect all types of sports cards but whenever I had extra money I would always go buy baseball cards over anything else. I actually tallied my cards that I have once and I think I had well over a thousand, maybe even two. My mom has boxes about the height of one baseball card that are approx. 2ft x 3ft wide and long just full of cards and I prolly have 2-3 boxes like this. Then otherwise I really only have a shoebox of NBA/NFL/NHL cards because I really never had gotten into those sports until middle school or even high school. Now, even though baseball has become my distant love, although I love watching the red sox play when i have a free couple of hours (or when they are in town like they are this week) and nothing is better than going to the ballpark with a couple of friends. I was watching baseball highlights on sportscenter today, not sure if they were from today or yesterday, but there was a play when a guy was heading for home from either first or second base and the 2nd baseman (the cut off man) was in the process of throwing home when the runner was only halfway home. The runner ended up colliding into the catcher and was called out because the catcher tagged him without dropping the ball. I was thinking about how what it would be like if this was a metaphor for my life. And I replayed it in my mind. I am rounding third headed for home right as the 2nd basemen, or the world has the ball and knows I am gonna be tagged out, then the ball is thrown home to where the catcher, or the devil is trying to get me, get me in one of my mistakes, or one of my sins, or one of my weaknesses/bad judgement calls from not relying on the third base coach, the holy spirit, and His leadings of wisdom. But when the runner collides with the catcher during the replay....it changes....it completely changes. The Umpire, my Father in Heaven, ended up calling the runner safe....but its not any ordinary runner....its Christ in my place. Christ pinch ran for me so I wouldnt have to. He was called safe so I could be justified in front of my coach, also the Father and in front of my entire team of brothers and sisters in Christ. Now I know it can be kinda cheesy but it is cool that God does this every second of every day for us. He washes out feet clean from all the muck and mud that we walked through that day and gives us a sparkling uniform and life, along with the game winning run that Christ already scored for us. In the midst of the play, in the midst of the heartache, the pain, the darkness, it might seem like we are called out. But if we would just glance toward deep left center field and see the jumbo tron, God is announcing our name and number as bringing home the "W" for our team. The play is safe as Christ declared the victory for me. That in all the tough struggles in life, it is Christ's effort those thousands of years ago that paid the price for me to be firm, safe, and sound in my relationship with others and most importantly....my relationship with him.

Hebrews 4:14

Hebrews 12:2

1 Corinthians 15:53-58