I love baseball. I really do! I can watch the great American past-time being played all day long. In fact, my dream is to retire (I'm thinking around the age of 47) and spend one full summer traveling so that I catch a game at every Major League stadium in the same season.
I love baseball - but I really don't enjoy poetry. But my love for baseball has made one poem my personal favorite. It was written by Ernest Lawrence Thayer and first published in the San Francisco Examiner on June 3, 1888. It is called Casey at the Bat and it ends with these words:
Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright; The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light, Somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout; But there is not joy in Mudville - mighty Casey has stuck out.
The same thing could be said about Simon Peter, the disciple of Jesus. He seemed to be the leader of the Disciples. He had some huge victories in his "career." After all, outside of Jesus, Peter will be the only one in heaven who will be able to tell us what it was like to walk on water, even if only for a few steps. But on the night of Jesus' arrest, as he stood in the courtyard of the High Priest, where inside Jesus was being tried, we see Peter's greatest point of failure.
A servant girl said to him, "You were with Jesus!" Peter denied it! STRIKE ONE!
The servant girl went on to point him out to others saying, "This is one of them!" Again Peter denied it! STRIKE TWO!
The bystanders than began to say, "You must be a follower of Jesus! We recognize your Galilean accent!" Peter responds, "I do not know this man!" WOW! He went from calling Jesus "The Christ, the Living One, the Son of God," to calling Him, "this man!" STRIKE THREE! You can almost hear the poem being read:
Oh, somewhere in this favored land, the sun is shining bright; The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light, Somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout; But there is no joy in Jerusalem - mighty Peter has struck out.
Three strikes - but Peter was NOT out! On Easter Sunday here at the Gaylord E-Free Church, we will look at two words found in the resurrection account given by Mark that cannot be found in any of the other three gospel accounts. Outside of the words, "He is not here! He has risen," I think they are the two most exciting words in the entire Easter story!
Be sure to read my other blog entitled "Hope for Hurting Pastors" at www.hurtingpastor.blogspot.com. You can leave a comment at either blog or email me directly at skdistler@gmail.com.
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