Baseball and The Battle Against Room Temperature – by Zack Fugate

“’I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth.’” -Revelation 3:15-16

When my son, Isaiah, was only two years old, we took him to his first baseball game. It may sound a bit crazy, but you have to understand how much Isaiah has always had a deep love and passion for the game of baseball. When we walked into the ballpark, his eyes lit up and it was clear that he was taking in all of the sights and sounds. For the next 3 hours, Isaiah sat perfectly still on the bleacher seat with his hands on the railing glued to the game…at two years old! Time has flown by and that big-eyed baseball-loving two-year-old finally gets to lace up his cleats, smell the soft leather of his baseball glove, and experience the thrill of the game of baseball as a player. Little did we know that God would be using the sport of baseball as a platform for accountability and spiritual growth.

“’For you say I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.’”-Revelation 3:17-18

Over the past few weeks, my son, my wife and I have been on a journey together. That journey has consisted of laughter, tears, anger, frustration, joy, humility, and brokenness. Isaiah has been struggling with following others in foolishness, and there have been a few occasions that he has led others in foolishness as well. Please do not misunderstand what I am sharing as speaking ill of my son, however as a means of sharing how God has been shaping all of us. While the foolishness primarily consisted of silliness and being off task, the main issue of focus has been Isaiah’s lukewarm response to correction, both from his teachers as well as us. In fact, his response to correction at times consisted of an “I don’t really care…” type of arrogance that really revealed issues of the heart.

Sara and I began to respond to these issues with correction, firm conversations, and small instances of taking privileges away, etc… However, when we weren’t seeing correction occur, we decided it was time to have a deep and intense heart-to-heart with Isaiah, letting him know that he may lose the privilege of playing baseball this year. As parents, it broke our hearts to present that level of accountability and to see his heart wounded as we told him, but we trust God’s word and believe that teachable hearts, humility, servanthood, obedience, and love are far more important than the incredible sport of baseball. While we think sports and extracurricular activities are great, we also view them as privileges that are wonderful platforms for character growth, given a Christ- centered focus. Essentially, just like jobs, events, and activities for adults are opportunities to share the Gospel and reflect the love of Christ and the cross, so to are sports and extracurricular activities for children. This was the heart of our conversation with Isaiah.