Heads Up!!

You could smell victory in the air! Or was that the smell of old, worn out cletes? Either way, you knew there was fun to be had by all. The softball fans came out by the dozen to cheer for their team to be victorious. More often than not you would be more likely to hear, “AWWW! That’s Ok! Good Try Anyway!!” than, “WOW! What A Play!” Not to mention the cries of agony by players who had pulled muscles and torn egos. Even so, most everyone left the fields at night with smiles.
Our church recently enjoyed another wonderful Church league softball season. It was absolutely grand to experience God’s people enjoying fellowship together. You could see and feel our church as well as other churches drawing closer together on the field, forming friendships that would last a lifetime. We were the Body of Christ, acting like the Body of Christ. When a player was injured, both teams would rush to the injured player’s aid. Once the player was up, everyone would applaud as the player left the field. Simply, beautiful.
Of all the things that could have happened at a Church League Softball game that would put me in a place where God could get my attention, it was the simplest of all things. A foul tipped ball. The batter approached the plate, hit their cletes with their bat, waited for the pitch, and just then... Swing! Ding! Foul tip... It was then that something, I believe, miraculous happened. As the ball sailed up and over the fence toward the crowd, everyone who was paying attention screamed in unison with one mind and one accord, “HEADS UP!!” As everyone screamed this, the crowd would promptly disperse from their location with great haste. Head ducked, Hands up for shelter of the impending doom. I watched all this unfold one afternoon and I felt God speak directly to my heart, “This is My church doing what My church is supposed to do.” Honestly, this hit me like a ton of bricks and made me a little weak kneed. What was God trying to tell me? Were we supposed to be courteous to spectators of softball games so they won’t receive a nasty pop knot? Or did it go deeper.
Well, as with everything else with God, it did indeed go deeper. After receiving this, I went back to God’s word(the Bible) to help me figure out what He was trying to say. What I found disturbed me. In the book of Luke Jesus was telling us about when certain things begin to happen we need to get ready because he was returning for His church. He instructed His church by saying, “But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Did you get that? Jesus himself was telling us, “HEADS UP!” But it doesn’t stop there. He didn’t tell us this just for our benefit but as a lesson that we need to tell others the same thing. Think of it this way, at a softball game when a ball is foul tipped, what if everyone just sat there silent and watched the ball knock out some unsuspecting soul. We would think to ourselves, “Well if we are just really quiet and be really friendly to them, they may see that the ball is coming on their own and get out of the way”, or “Well, they should have seen it coming... They should have been paying attention!” That’s just silly, isn’t it? But that’s how we are as a church. There is a REALLY, REALLY BIG SOFTBALL on it’s way to the crowd and those who are paying attention aren’t saying “HEADS UP!!”
Who’s fault is it when this happens? Is it the fault of the person not watching or the person who fails to warn the people? I believe it’s our fault. When the “really big softball”(The Rapture) lands and millions are destroyed, do you really think Jesus is going to stand there and say, “well done, thou good and faithful servant” or do you think He will say, “I sent you to tell those people, ‘heads up’ and you didn’t... depart from me...” I, for one, want to be the one who shouts as loud as I can, “HEADS UP!!!!”