3 Points to Ponder
- “I loved the wonder of my childhood. To jump on a bike and explore the town. To call up friends to meet at the park and play football. The possibilities seemed so endless. That is what I long for. When thinking about your childhood, what do you most long for?”
- “Life is complicated, which is why I think we are all so drawn to sports. It is simple. It is clear. And it is immediate. It doesn’t take years to determine if you made the right move, as the scoreboard will tell you at the end of the game. Where do you need to make something more simple in your life?”
- “We all look at those ‘coulda-shoulda-woulda’ moments in our life. But, rarely do we look at the flip-side — what wouldn’t have happened if I’d taken that path? Our lives are like rivers. Yes, there are different paths to take, but each one has a grand adventure. What today do you need to let go of in your past to be able to grab onto the present?”
2 Quotes to Share
“You know, we just don’t recognize the most significant moments of our lives while they’re happening. Back then I thought, well, there’ll be other days. I didn’t realize that was the only day.” –Dr. Archibald Graham, from Field of Dreams
“Hey, Dad…You wanna have a catch?” –Ray Kinsella, from Field of dreams
1 Story of Impact
On Thursday, August 12, Major League Baseball played its first game in Iowa at the Field of Dreams. It was one of those gorgeous Iowa summer nights, MLB nailed all the little details, and the gameplay was something from a Hollywood script. Watching the game, as well as reading all the comments from friends all over, this wasn’t just a baseball game… it was spiritual. For a few hours, the pure beauty of a Creator’s landscape was on display. Breathtaking. We wrestled with extending grace, forgiving our heroes for whatever expectations they didn’t live up to in our life. We clung to the hope of a voice guiding us to a place where visions, all that we wished could be, actually did become reality. And that final scene of the movie, where Ray (Kevin Coster) has that catch with his dad. For us adults, we thought about one-more-catch with that special someone (father, mother, brother, sister, or friend), as we didn’t know THAT would be the last in that sacred space. Seeing the last scene of all the cars driving to a baseball field in the middle of an Iowa cornfield and reading all the comments from the game last night, a longing exists inside all of us for heaven, the place of fulfillment beyond our deepest desire. As people of impact, we can be about bringing heaven to here, to live with the hope of the possibilities, to heal the wounds of the past, to restore and delight in right relationships, and recognize the awe of the moment and just be overwhelmed. This outlives you. What are you doing today to bring heaven here… for yourself, your family, your friend, and your community?
