God and the Detroit Tigers

Anyone who knows me, knows that I like baseball, specifically the Detroit Tigers, particularly the 1968 Detroit Tigers.

The '68 Tigers were a group of below-average to very good baseball players who, when brought together with each one's particular skills and the proper leadership, became World Champions.

That year the Tigers starting lineup combined for a .250 batting average, with no individual batting over .290 and two batting below .200. Despite these statistics, the Tigers had two great reasons for being winners ~ 1) They had a leader who played each one where they fit best, and 2) Nobody had to be a star.

Using unconventional wisdom, the manager pulled his starting shortstop from the lineup and moved his All-Star center-fielder into play shortstop. This meant that he needed to move his starting right-fielder into center-field and played his star player, who had been hurt for a large part of the year in right-field. These moves could have had a terrible effect on the team, however; they saw the need and did what it took to win as a team.

Much the same way, Paul exhorts us in 1 Corinthians 12:12-26 that the Church of Jesus Christ needs all aspects of the Body to function together in order to accomplish His desires. Verse 18 tells us "But, in fact, God has arranged the parts of the body, everyone of them, just as He wanted them to be." While I'm sure that this happens throughout the world, I have seen it first-hand in Choluteca, with GCLA and Gran Comision Church serving the poor and HIV+ - this is their common goal, to participate in what Christ is doing there, without the need for personal attention. I have not seen anyone putting his or her self-interest ahead of the the common goal - to embody Jesus' love.

I pray that someday, I, too, will be wise enough to put the needs of others ahead of my personal goals. ~ K