Touch Home

Baseball is America’s national pastime. Wait… Past time. No. Passtime? Passedtime? No. Pastime. Ok, yes I was right the first time.

Baseball is America’s national pastime. Few things are as red, white, and blue. Each year fans patiently await the beginning of the season. The night before Opening Day, fans rest their heads on their pillows and dream of hot dogs, Cracker Jacks, and peanuts. The crack of a wood Lousiville Slugger bat hitting the ball into play is enough to make anyone nostalgic for a bygone era of simpler times. Organ music playing at the top and bottom of each inning makes the game seem quasi sacred. When I think about baseball I think of my childhood. I think about sitting in the dugout dressed in Hillsdale Charger blue waiting for a bat to be tossed over for me to pick up. I think about the feeling of a cold Michigan spring day and the way the frozen dew melted through the leather on my cleats. I think about rounding third, eyes on that white polygon planted in the clay, knowing nothing in the world was more important in that moment than touching home. This is of course the point of the game. In fact, home plate is the most important part of the game. Everything extends from the plate. The shape of the field is an arrow pointing back toward home plate. The foul lines are based on the direction of the sides of home plate. Balls and strikes are called in reference to home plate. Every batter has a turn to step up to home plate. Every run is scored by touching home plate.

Touching home is the most important part of baseball and of life. In baseball, touching home means you need to get back to where you started. In life, it means the same. We need to get back to where we started.

“For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.” Romans 11:36 NIV

Every one of us has our origin in God. He created us. He spoke us into being. Connecting with the Lord is touching home. When was the last time you touched home? When was the last time you connected with God? Or has life become so chaotic and full of hurry that the thought of slowing down enough to pray is seemingly impossible? You aren’t alone. There was a time, like when you were a young kid playing baseball, that you only had to worry about touching home. But those days have long since passed. Today you have a stressful job, relationship conflicts, familial obligations, and a busy schedule. Touching home has been a thought that is never truly actualized.

In Revelation 2:4, the letter to the Church of Ephesus, Jesus says, “You have been busy. You’ve endured difficult things and overcome. You have been zealous for righteousness. Yet…”

“I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.” Revelation 2:4 NIV

Touching home means going back to the place things started. Do you remember when you first found The Lord? Do you remember the love and passion you had in the beginning? Do you remember what it was like to have faith like a child? You can go back to where you started. Jesus is beckoning you to touch home again and restore that severed connection. Touching home means connected with God. This should be a daily practice.

How do we touch home?

Prayer

“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” Mark 1:35 NIV

Jesus set the precedent. Jesus will separate himself from the crowds or his disciples and find a quiet place to pray often. There are nine scriptural references to Jesus finding a place to “touch home”. Once for every inning. Jesus touches home often. He relies on his connection with the Father. Thomas Merton the great monastic theologian said, “By “prayer of the heart” we seek God himself present in the depths of our being and meet him there by invoking the name of Jesus in faith, wonder and love.” Prayer connects our truest self to God and God to our truest self. Prayer is central to christian living. Do you set aside a moment each day to pray? How often do you pray?

Worship

Worship is often thought of as singing. Singing is a manifestation of worship, however worship is so much more than music. Worship is the outward expression of inward love for God. Richard Foster says, “Worship is our response to the overtures of love from the heart of the Father.” Worship is all about reciprocal love between the Father and his children. I love to begin my day with worship. I play music and consider the deep love of God. I am overcome every morning with a love for God. I can’t help but posture my heart toward him in praise. It is not just about singing. Worship is something that happens in your spirit.

“God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth” John 4:24 NIV

Take time each day to allow your spirit to express your love for God. ”How do you worship? I may as well ask, how do you receive and express your love for God?

Scripture

At a young age, Jewish students in the synagogue were given a slate. On the slate were a select few verses, the Hebrew alphabet, and a phrase that said, “The Law will be my calling”. The rabbi would cover the slate in honey. Children would lick off the honey as an expression of the sweetness of Torah, the word of God. The author of Psalm 119 wrote this line in his alphabetic acrostic poem, which I think about often.

“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” Psalm 119:103 NIV

The word of God is sweet! I love the illustration of licking up the words of God as if they are honey. I want to have the same devotion to the scriptures. I want to love reading the Bible. God’s words are something we should not live without constant connection to. Reading scripture allows us to connect with the story of God and the very words he has spoken. Scripture guides us. Just two verses later in the same Psalm it says,

“Your word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Psalm 119:105 NIV

Touching home means opening up the Good Book and hearing God speak through the pages. How often do you read the Bible?

There are many other ways we can touch home and connect with God each day. The three I mentioned are the Big Three. It is a great place to begin as a novice and a great place to continue in as a well tested saint. Wherever you are in your faith journey, round those bases each day and find time to touch home. And of course, after you touch home, enjoy Opening Day!

Amen.

And PLAY BALL