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My Two Cents
by Rev Chuck Behrens
January, 2013
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Past Articles |
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While a lot of people were
watching the Presidential debates, and there were some who didn't watch
them, actually because baseball was still going on. They were just
watching men with caps swinging a stick at a speeding white ball.
Now, it came on the last day of the regular baseball season when the first
presidential debate took place, but there were still decisive games being
played. One of which gave the Yankees (okay, no booing - I can't hear it
anyway), the division championship. But in the midst of some of these
cliffhanger baseball dramas being played out, there was another baseball
story that really captured people's attention about one guy having his one
time at-bat.
Seven years ago, in his first Major League at-bat, 24-year-old Adam
Greenberg was struck in the head by a 92-mile-per-hour fastball. That left
him with these migraine-like symptoms and lots of other complications -
the end of a dream. Well, except somebody forgot to tell Adam it was over.
He was determined to fight his way back - if only some team would give him
a chance.
Well, filmmaker and fan Matt Liston launched a passionate, online
petition. He called it "One At-Bat" to get Adam that chance. And on a
Tuesday night near the end of the season, Adam Greenberg stood at home
plate in a Major League game at-bat again. See the Florida Marlins signed
him to a one-game contract so he could swing again. Now, he was greeted by
a rousing standing ovation in the stadium, even after he struck out,
because Adam Greenberg is anything but "out.” He's a winner!
Now, his life was changed by one man who did whatever it took to give him
another at-bat - another chance.
My life was changed by the same kind of person; so were millions of
others. Yours has been too. Because I had struck out big time. See God
gave me my life, but I hijacked it from Him. I did what I wanted to do
with it; me defying the God who made a hundred billion galaxies, who
decides if I take another breath. Ignoring Him. Marginalizing Him. Living
my way instead of the way He created me to live.
I knew the Bible was talking about me when it said: "All have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). And I had no chance of ever
reaching "home." And then the God of second chances went to bat for me.
The Bible says in Ephesians 2:12 that the very God I didn't care about
sent His only Son to erase the sin that had left me "without hope and
without God." But the price for me to have a chance at heaven wasn't
cheap. In our word for today from the Word of God in Revelation 1:5 it
says, "Jesus loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood."
Heaven's Prince chose to literally sacrifice His life to pay for my
rebellion and yours as He was nailed to a cross.
And then He did what no man has done before or since. He walked out of His
grave under His own power, to give the life that He purchased to millions.
To me. To you. He did what it took to bring us all Home.
Jesus is the God of another chance...of a new beginning. He fights for you
when others have counted you out. He offers restoration when others offer
only condemnation. He refuses to give up on you even when you've given up
on yourself. With His forgiving, life-giving power, He gives "losers" and
sinners, and marriages and families a second chance, because Jesus is all
about hope - another at-bat.
A new beginning - that's the gift Jesus has made possible for all of us,
and not only in a brand new year of 2013.
By forgiving what only He can forgive, and changing what only He can
change. He stands ready to do that for us today, let the God of second
chances give you a new beginning and celebrate a truly new you and a New
Year.
See you in Church,
Rev. Chuck
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