BATTER UP

by Andrew McClean

This is my idea of life as a new Christian and Child of God.
It is almost like being on a baseball team with God as our coach. When you first get saved and accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and become a child of God, He throws underhand pitches, slow and gentle. He gives you plenty of time to think about what you are doing. He helps you learn the fundamentals and to get them into your head.
This is so that you can get a good swing and some base hits. As you grow and become more proficient in hitting and running you start advancing the bases until you finally have a home run but the game is not over.
God has lots more to teach you, so he changes to overhead pitches. They come a little harder and a little faster with less time in between them. Sometimes you don't have much time to think about it.
He teaches you to learn from the mistakes of your past in underhand pitching.
The same is true as you get base hits and advance. When you strike out he lets you think about your mistakes you made and how to correct them. He wants to see if you come to Him for advice, guidance and comfort. Finally you advance and hit a home run and you seem to have figured out what God wants you to do, what He expects from you, and what His standards are.
When you fail you know who to go to when you want to reach another level. As you advance he pitches harder, faster and he might even throw in some sinkers, curves, sliders, change-ups, and knuckle balls in there.
You will never become perfect but you will know that in life there are many ups and downs, twists and turns, mistakes, and some wise choices. When all goes wrong you know that sometimes God has thrown you a pitch that you weren't expecting, but He does not want you to fear the pitch but to fear and honor Him.
Know that He will not give you a pitch at any speed or style that He feels you are not ready to face. He wants you to give your best and when you don't hit a homer or even a base hit He wants you to come to Him for reassurance and comfort. He will dust you off, give you some Fatherly advice and encourage you to give it another swing.





Please feel free to contact me by email at

shilohkosciusko@gmail.com with questions, comments or even suggestions for further devotional studies.


If you know of someone new to the Kosciusko area and would like for our church to visit them please let us know. Our prayers are that this devotional ministry will be an outreach to bring people into a closer relationship with Jesus. I do appreciate you taking the time to read these devotionals and please keep us in your prayers.