Out of Our Hands

I have been "playing" a game lately called Out of the Park Baseball. My friend, Tyler, recommended it to me. It's a great game. I say "playing" because I never actually control a player in the game. I act as general manager and manager of the team that I am over. So I control a lot of different things. But I never actually pitch the ball or try to hit the ball.

It's been fun to play. It's also taught me some great lessons.

As far as baseball goes, it shows that you can put together an incredible team of talented people. But it ultimately comes down to the players on the field actually getting the job done. One has to look no farther than last night's Rangers loss in Seattle to see that truth actually played out in real baseball. 

This team of incredible talent managed 0 runs against a spare, at best, pitcher and a horrible team. They're in the middle of a stretch run in a pennant race. They had a chance to go up another game on the team behind them. And they had a chance to stay 2 up on the Yanks for the best record in the A.L. They had guys in scoring position all night long. Their pitcher allows only 1 run to the other team.

And they produce 0 runs.

Out of the Park baseball, and real baseball, also teaches us that there are only so many things that we can control. Even if you are a player on a team, you are one player out of many. There are so many things that you must rely upon others for.

So it is with life. 

As humans, we can do much. We are talented, incredible beings, made in God's image. However, there is only so much we can control. The lives that we live are a part of God's story. When we get on board with that reality, we live our lives to the best. We see it all throughout the Bible and all throughout history. There is much of life that is simply out of our hands. That shouldn't be a depressing thought. It should be freeing. It should free us to orient our lives around what God is doing and what God has been doing throughout history. When we live with this way of thinking, we see that there truly is much that we can do.