Spiritual Reflections
Lesson learned from life's not-so everyday experience
Pat Ozment, Jr.
The other night I proved something I had always suspected. Given the chance I could have learned to hit big league pitching. In Tamale there are two kinds of bats, the kind that fly at night, not the kind that you swing at a ball. There are fruit bats and vampire bats.

Anyway, the other night I was closing the back door when a vampire bat flew into the kitchen. Peggy screamed, "bat" and fled the room, leaving me to defend the home plate, uh place.

I grabbed a broom stick that was standing in the corner assumed a three quarter open stance and waited for the next circuit of the bat which, like a furry orb, was flying round and round the kitchen just about the top of my strike zone. The first pitch seemed to be right in the sweet spot, but it broke to the outside just as I swung. Undaunted I watched the next one pass high and outside.

Then in typical hardball fashion, the next one appeared to be aimed at my head only to break down the middle for a called strike two. That got me mad and I squeezed the sawdust out of that stick and dug in.

When the projectile made the circle again I was ready and just as it started to break high and outside I unloaded on it and the game was over.

That is what makes life difficult, the breaking stuff. You seldom get pitches right down the middle. Life comes at you from all angles.

In Ephesians 6:18 Paul tells us to "keep alert with all perseverance." Hebrews 12:1 tells us to "run with endurance." 1 Corinthians 9:24 says, "to so run that we may obtain the prize." Galatians 6:9 says, "to not grow weary in well doing." In 1 Corinthians 9:26 Paul tells us that he does not "run aimlessly, and swing as one beating the air." Stay in the game, and when your number is called, step up to the plate, take the sign from the Coach, dig in, and watch for the breaking ball. Oh yes, whatever you do, don't get called out on strikes. See you in church.

Reader Comments

No comments have been posted. Be the first!

Other Stories With Comments:
Article	Comments
Taking Names and Keeping Score	1
Frances Nichols passes at 91	1
Bryant is a contestant in Ms. Senior Alabama Pageant	1
Dunagans to celebrate golden anniversary	1