“STEP UP TO THE PLATE!”

Dear Friends,

Baseball analogies are always appreciated by us Red Sox fans, and especially so now that spring training is underway and the faithful are longing for the first pitch of regular season. We all know every batter hopes for a hit, and then hopes to get on base, and then hopes to score a run. You may also know that Hall of Fame players strike out more times than they actually hit the ball and make it to first base. That is a sobering reality. Success in base-ball is not a matter of hitting a home run every time you swing at the ball. Even the greatest hitters miss the ball nearly seven times out of ten.

In baseball, success comes from stepping up to the plate. Success arises from the mere act of showing up and getting on with playing the game of baseball. No one hits the ball as a result of talking about hitting. No hits or runs are made by thinking about making a hit or a run, or by wishing these positive outcomes would come your way. As a player, if you want to hit the ball, you have to play the game. You have to step up to the plate, and start swinging the bat.

Sisters and brothers, there is a great truth there for our living of the Christian life. We can talk about living for Jesus, and we can think about how great it would be if this or that were to happen. But, if we want to see God work, if we want to grow up into Christ, if we want to see an impact for the Kingdom of God made in our community here on the Cape, we first have to step up to the plate.

It is not a matter of being “able” to do great things for God. Nor is it a matter of being spiritually inadequate. The big truth of the Christian life really is simply learning to step up to the plate. You and I won’t hit one out of the park very often, but we will learn how to hit the ball, if we will step up to the plate and swing. We will learn how to catch, but we have to let someone throw a ball our way. We will learn how to be coached – how to receive from God and how to help others learn how to play the game of Life.

God invites us to step up to the plate every day. Every day, He is calling our number, calling us onto the field, giving us circumstances where we cannot possibly succeed unless we rely on His leading, and on His coaching. Today, more than ever in the recent history of our church, we have an opportunity to see God work in our church and in our community in an unprecedented way.

But it will not happen, and it will not even come close to beginning to happen, unless we are willing to step up to the plate. Take responsibility for the way you “play” the game of life and for the way you choose to live and serve as a Christian disciple. Don’t allow anyone to talk you into sitting on the bench. Why not take time as you read this and ask God to be your Coach and to teach you how to live your life for Him. God wants you to know that He really has called you to hit a few out of the park... to make some great catches... and to throw the enemy “out” at home. But first, you’re going to have to step up to the plate.

As we take on whatever God has in His will for us in 2007, let us be sure to leave behind any willingness to lag behind, or to give up, or to let somebody else have your turn at bat. Now is the time when our God is calling His people to step up to the plate, to bear fruit, to allow God to work in you so that He is free to grow the fruit of His presence in and through you.

It’s your turn. How are you going to live your life in Christ this year? How are you going to involve yourself on this team that we call Pocasset Baptist Church? Are you going to pick up your bat, and step up to that plate?

Thank you for your willingness to grow in faith and in fruitfulness – and for your much-anticipated willingness to step up to the plate!

With you in Jesus,

Pastor Edmund C. de la Cour, Jr.