Phillies Phaith

It was not an uncommon night for my wife and I. We put our little guy to bed and spent some time watching TV, flipping channels, and talking about the day. The Food Network is always a fav and I like to turn back and forth between the latest Ace of Cakes and the latest Phillies game.

Marriage is all about compromise peoples. (If I can only get that Picture in Picture feature working)

Sad to say the remote did not get a lot of action last night. It pretty much stayed on the Food Network. After all, my beloved Phillies were losing 9-2 to the stinking LA Dodgers. (I pretty much loathe all things LA that includes Kobe.)

I have to be honest.

When I saw the score I did not turn it back to watch again for the night.

This is not behavior becoming of the true blue Philly sports fan, of days of old when my dad would wake me up to watch Lenny Dykstra and John Kruk pull out a late night rally.

I went to bed and shut the lights on my Phillies.

I woke up and put on my favorite Phillies Tee after all, thats how Philly fans do, win or lose.

Turning on my Mac to catch the latest clever headline from the Philadelphia Daily News Online depicting another heartbreaking loss. I was shocked to read CHOOCHOOO! in big letters and see the Phillies catcher Ruiz (nicknamed Chooch) dancing with his fellow teammates.

Did they win?

They did!

They pulled off the comeback from being down seven runs!

This made me smile and made me think.

How often do I give up when the circumstances look hopeless?

How often do I assume that there is no time left to turn things around?

How often do I let my fear of disappointment dictate my faith in something or someone?

I wonder when the momentum shift was that started The Phillies to believe that they had a chance. If something was said from one player to another, to not give up, to hold on, to keep swinging.

Sometimes prayers can be like a Phillies game.

There are some types of fans and people of faith that stay to the final inning never giving up hope and being there in the moment when hope meets the fruition.

For the rest of us, its good to know that in the moments when we turn the channel of our faith, God does not turn the channel from us and is still working behind the scenes.

Life is not always like a ballgame but I like to think that I serve God who can surprise us by a headline, or a verse, or something more.

I am reminded of Jesus praying for his disciples in the garden before His death (John 17), they fell asleep, but Jesus didn't. In the midst of His unbearable burden of the cross he prayed for them, He prayed for us.

He undersands the battle of waiting.

"Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good." (Rom8.26-28 Msg)

I don't have everything figured out.

There are circumstances in my life that I wished would be more comfortable.

No matter how big or how small, I have faith.

I will believe, I will hope.

"Though the sorrow may last for the night

His joy (and the Phillies) comes thru in the morning."