A Spiritual Journey & Softball; a dimension of teamwork (Part 1)

Who knew? (The depth of this message to me may resemble its length :)

Team work, seems to me, is developed once you become vulnerable to a team itself. You cant develop the real meat of what you can be to any team until you actually engage with one. Sure you can go to seminars – by yourself, you can read about team work – by yourself, and you can talk about what is needed from team work – sometimes to yourself…(?)

You never can really experience, grow, and flourish if you are not apart of a team. The key.. being the vulnerability and the potential of letting that team down.

I was not a kid who grew up playing sports. I infact.. was the kid not picked for the team or picked last. Don’t “awww” me… I was just a tree climber, not a runner. I was a Barbie player, not a ball catcher. I was playing tea and making mud pies, not pitching. This all catches up with the fact that, as an teenager/adult I loved to play lots of sports and I stunk at lots of sports. I always thought… I just wasn’t born with the talent and skill. What I did not know until a moment of Rama at my first practice was… even if you’re a natural, skill comes from practice and training. (Okay all you avid sports players… you may know this… but it took me 27 year to get this concept.)

Suddenly, I realized …. Oh my wonderful LORD! I can actually play one day and NOT STINK!!! Now the whole reason for this blog is to focus on the last statement… the words…”one day.” Ouch. Not now…”one day,” not tomorrow or the next week but “one day.”

You must endure the discomfort of learning. We will rarely, if ever, start out just ‘good’ at something. And even if we do…it takes years to perfect playing that instrument, drawing that picture or running that company. So between now and “one day” we must endure the discomfort of repeatedly crossing our comfort zone and do what we are currently ‘not good’ at.

And then… one day wake up and our music is more lovely, our art is a masterpiece and our businesses are thriving.


God showed me that the reason I never tried was because I didn’t treasure the value of achieving through failure. I stood in that outfield being terrified of a ball thrown in my direction. I repeatedly looked ridiculous and thought… why did I sign up for this embarrassment for? He quickly answered…every fear can drive us toward or away. So many times in my life I walked away or faded into the back ground because I didn’t want to disappoint, embarrass or expose my vulnerability. And this is one way the enemy keeps us from achieving our purpose and dreams.

It will be awkward! It most likely will be embarrassing! And you don’t show up knowing, you have to be taught! But afterward…EVERY MOMENT was worth it. How much He loves me, to let me learn this. And in every game, someone sacrifices playing so I, the handicap, can participate. Every fear; will they lose because of me? Will I fail them? Will they be disappointed in me, comes up. Yet with their incredible encouragement and continual sacrifice, I learn what a real team is and I stop living on the side lines.

To show up and be a team member, especially when its your first time at anything – everything becomes about humility. I'm not talking about the .. “oh your so humble” humility. I'm talking about the … “man I'm trying not to be humiliated” humility. Yet how can I actually play, throw, catch or run...if I don't learn, practice and look ridiculous first?

Thats it for now :)

Restoration vs. Removal

Acts 3:19-21
"...Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord ; 20. and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, 21. whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time...

I work for an awesome man of God who is a root canal specialist. If you've ever had a root canal, then you might know that it takes time and somewhat tedious. My boss was sharing his experience with a friend who needed emergency surgery. He was making a point on how the surgery, an appendectomy, only took the doctors an hour and half. (For those of you who are surgeons, its not making light of the amazing work you do! :)

The point he was making was that in his particular field, he stated, on a difficult case can take up to 6 hours from start to finish. (Don't be scared, THOSE appointments are broken up over different days :) I can attest to the degree of patience these procedures require. Tiny canals inside your tooth, viewed with a microscope, in an open mouth with the reflection of a mirror being your primary tool of seeing inside... get a complicated picture? Even for me, the few times I have assisted him, I am quietly ewwwing and aaahing behind my mask.

Whats the point?? He's restoring a tooth. Keeping something that is dying alive.
Sure, you can pull the tooth, throw it away and maybe never hurt again. But function is now gone, usefulness is gone, purpose... is gone. Not only that but the bone needs the tooth to grow/live properly. Without the tooth is slowly breaks down and apparently becomes porous. (ask your dentist for details, I'm just the help :)

Restoration restores life, function, usefulness, PURPOSE. That's why restoration takes 6 hours and removal takes an hour or two. So the next time you are wondering why it seems to take God so long to RESTORE what has been stolen, lost, or broken... remember it was just too valuable to be removed. He has life, function, usefulness and PURPOSE for the stolen, lost and broken things in our lives. Even His return awaits 'the period of restoration' that it takes for Gods PURPOSE for us to be played out.