Being a baseball fan I can honestly say that there is nothing quite as beautiful in the game as a well turned double play. There is something artful in a short stop and a second baseman combining to get a runner out at second then turning it to first for the double play or a cut off worked to perfection to save a game.
I have a few good friends that either played baseball at a high level, one actually in the major leagues, or coach at some level of baseball currently. I don't pretend to know near as much as these guys do but I enjoy a good baseball game. As I have grown older I have learned to appreciate all the nuances that occur from inning to inning.
Even though it is a team sport, it seems to casual observer that baseball is a game played by nine individuals on the field together, that is, until you watch closely and realize that like many other team sports, it really is about the team.
The case that I am making is demonstrated by the cutoff play. Ninth inning with the tying run on second. A sharp single to left field, all the pieces begin to move: the leftfielder moves to get the ball and throw it, while the infielders move to various places to catch the ball and turn the play; still others, who aren't directly involved in the play, move into position to catch any overthrows, possibly saving the game. In the mean time, the batter, who now represents the potential winning run, is rounding the bases. The first baseman begins to yell, "two,two!" signaling to the catcher that the runner is headed to second base.
This is where a perfectly executed cutoff play comes into action. The catcher sees that the runner from second will beat the throw and yells, "cut two!" a few times to the third baseman, who has moved onto the infield grass in line with the throw from left. The throw-properly made-is low enough so the third baseman can catch it and throw to second in time to tag the batter out as he slides into the bag.
No one could have done this by themselves. Nor with two of nine players. Instead it took all nine men to make this play work like it was supposed to. ALL NINE. No one player is more important than the other. All nine players involved in this play executed it to perfection. That's what the community of God and the teamwork of God's people can do when we work as a team for His purposes.
None of us can do anything alone. There is nothing in life that we can do alone. We aren't meant to. If we were meant to be alone God wouldn't have given us the ability or need to be with another person. He wouldn't have given us the knowledge or desire to marry and reproduce. We would be robots with little purpose. Live is meant to be lived in a community, with people who we trust and can count on.
Don't try it alone. Find a "body" to belong to.
"A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back to back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple braided cord is not easily broken." Ecclesiastes 4:12
I have a few good friends that either played baseball at a high level, one actually in the major leagues, or coach at some level of baseball currently. I don't pretend to know near as much as these guys do but I enjoy a good baseball game. As I have grown older I have learned to appreciate all the nuances that occur from inning to inning.
Even though it is a team sport, it seems to casual observer that baseball is a game played by nine individuals on the field together, that is, until you watch closely and realize that like many other team sports, it really is about the team.
The case that I am making is demonstrated by the cutoff play. Ninth inning with the tying run on second. A sharp single to left field, all the pieces begin to move: the leftfielder moves to get the ball and throw it, while the infielders move to various places to catch the ball and turn the play; still others, who aren't directly involved in the play, move into position to catch any overthrows, possibly saving the game. In the mean time, the batter, who now represents the potential winning run, is rounding the bases. The first baseman begins to yell, "two,two!" signaling to the catcher that the runner is headed to second base.
This is where a perfectly executed cutoff play comes into action. The catcher sees that the runner from second will beat the throw and yells, "cut two!" a few times to the third baseman, who has moved onto the infield grass in line with the throw from left. The throw-properly made-is low enough so the third baseman can catch it and throw to second in time to tag the batter out as he slides into the bag.
No one could have done this by themselves. Nor with two of nine players. Instead it took all nine men to make this play work like it was supposed to. ALL NINE. No one player is more important than the other. All nine players involved in this play executed it to perfection. That's what the community of God and the teamwork of God's people can do when we work as a team for His purposes.
None of us can do anything alone. There is nothing in life that we can do alone. We aren't meant to. If we were meant to be alone God wouldn't have given us the ability or need to be with another person. He wouldn't have given us the knowledge or desire to marry and reproduce. We would be robots with little purpose. Live is meant to be lived in a community, with people who we trust and can count on.
Don't try it alone. Find a "body" to belong to.
"A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back to back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple braided cord is not easily broken." Ecclesiastes 4:12
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