Easter and Baseball

What does Easter have to do with baseball? Well, let me think a bit.

I love them both, for one thing. They both take place in the Spring, for another.

I guess, most of all, they remind me of limitless possibilities.

You players have heard my tale of how I played for a team (8th-grade) that once scored 12 runs with two outs in the last inning. I started the two-out rally with an infield hit. The next time I came up to bat, I walked. I scored twice in the inning.

And we lost ... 13-12. The game ended with the bases loaded. Strike out ... swinging.

That game also marked the last day of my pitching career. My coach figured he couldn't do any worse with me, so he put me in to pitch with us down, 11-0. I gave up two runs and was relieved to get out of the inning with us down, 13-0. Just goes to show that every pitch and run are important.

I was almost the winning pitcher. I coulda been a contender.

I remember another game where I was listening to my favorite broadcaster, Gene Elston, call the Astros on one hot summer night when I was in junior high school. I spent a lot of my summer nights this way, listening to the Astros on the radio. This was before the days when all the games were on TV. Gene was a factual, mild-mannered broadcaster, the anti-Milo, if you will. He rarely got excited.

But on this one night, the Astros (who were hopelessly out of the division race) were down 5-0 and mounted a furious two-out rally to beat the Expos, 6-5. As Enos Cabell's single chopped through the left side of the Astrodome turf, Gene "the cool machine" became ecstatic ... screaming, for the first time ever, I think ... "Astros win! ... Astros win! ... they did it! Given up for dead, they scored 6 runs with two outs to beat the Expos!!"

I did the same, running through the house to report the result. If Gene was excited, it was time to party!

Oh, the beauty of this game. You know, even with a time-limited game, the game doesn't have a definite ending point. Some one has to get the last out. Until that last out is made, all things are possible.

We've seen Mustangs teams pull this off before, too, like our 6-run, two-out rally over Parker-Tarrant -- against a pitcher who just got drafted in last year's MLB draft -- in the Texas Tournament in 2007 ... like our 7-run rally in the last inning to beat St. John's in the 2008 Cooper Tournament.

You might say Jesus was "given up for dead", too, except He really was dead. The beauty of the resurrection story is that Jesus rose from the dead. People just didn't think He was gone from this earth; He was. But then He was back!

When I got my mind around this truth while I was in college, it literally saved my life.

If Jesus conquered death, then indeed all things are possible. It's never over, no matter how dire the situation. There is always hope. There is not only hope, there is a chance and a way.

With Jesus, the game is always still going. So, let's "play ball," if you will.

Happy Easter, every one.