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3 Strikes...You're On!

10/23/2014

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The World Series
The World Series has begun. That's serious business at the Maat residence. Both Wes and I are huge fans of the sport with four bases and nine innings.

Are you aware how many phrases we use in everyday life come from the world of baseball? Batting a thousand. Hitting it out of the park. Covering all the bases. Being thrown a curveball. Stepping up to the plate.

And then there is that phrase that has actually become a metaphor upon which to assess someone's success or failure: Three Strikes --You're Out. Whether as a standard for habitual offenders or the number of times we are willing to allow a child to misbehave before calling for a "time out", the phrase has come to mean that the jig is up. No more leniency. No more chances.  
 

  A different approach
How different this is from the approach Jesus took with one of his "learners" -- Peter. The night before Jesus went on trial, Peter denied three times that he knew his friend. After Jesus' resurrection, he set up a special session with Peter. This encounter is documented in the gospel of John, chapter 21:

15 After breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”

“Yes, Master, you know I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

16 He then asked a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”

“Yes, Master, you know I love you.”

Jesus said, “Shepherd my sheep.”

17-19 Then he said it a third time: “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was upset that he asked for the third time, “Do you love me?” so he answered, “Master, you know everything there is to know. You’ve got to know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.

    Three Strikes - You're On
How gracious is Jesus to help Peter deal with his three failures. Jesus overlays each failure with a reminder that he has not been kicked off the team. In fact, he is "up to bat." There are sheep to be fed and lambs to be shepherded.

I'm not sure it makes any sense to change the rules of baseball. If you miss the ball three times, it is probably time to go back to the dugout and re-group. But what I love about baseball is that no matter how many times you strike out, there's always another chance. Your turn will come up again and this time -- you just might hit the game-winning home run.

May God give us all the grace to head out to the ballpark every day and keep swinging.


    Reflection Questions Have you ever had a string of failures or a big one that made you question yourself? What meaning does that story create for you?

How can you allow Spirit to overlay your experience with one that empowers and equips you for service?

What kind of mindset do you need to adopt to step back out on the field after a disappointing experience and play ball?


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Making Big Mistakes

7/15/2014

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  An Accumulation of Errors  

Mistakes are costly. Frustrating. And often downright embarrassing. But according to Steven Johnson, some of the most world-changing, life-saving inventions were the result of big boo-boos.    

Fleming violated the procedures to keep a petri dish free from contamination and -- voila! Penicillin. Greatbatch grabbed the wrong resistor and came up with a cardiac pacemaker. The invention of the vacuum tube, says Johnson, was a "steady, persistent accumulation of error" that began when de Forest misinterpreted the reason for a power surge.   

Our lives often feel like an accumulation of errors. But if we are willing to pay attention, we may see in the midst of it all the steady, persistent evolution of a human soul.      
 
 
The Slow, but Delightful Process of Becoming

I've spent some time speculating about why God would (create the world through evolution). Part of it, I think, is that ... God is a person who delights in simply the process of things becoming....    

I sometimes imagine God doing things in the way that creationists would say -- an instantaneous seven-day creation.... But there'd be absolutely no way that we as human beings could have any understanding of how God did that, or any way for us to be able to participate with Him in that process of creation.  

Rather, I think what God has done is taken a much slower process.  

- Dr. Jim Bradley, Professor emeritus of Mathematics at Calvin College. From the transcript of the June 26, 2014 On Being program: The Evolution of the Science-Religion Debate.

Reflection Questions
              
What are the biggest mistakes you have made recently?  

What do you notice about the impact of those mistakes?

What in your life is evolving through the slow process of becoming?

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    Margaret Morgan Maat
    Margaret Morgan Maat is a minister, coach, organizational effectiveness consultant, musician and motivational speaker. She lives in Houston, Texas. 

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Margaret Morgan Maat | 281-913-3328 | Houston, Texas

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