"Step It Up"

Our family just returned from a vacation in Flordia! Thanks to our daughter Bethany our entire family enjoyed a trip to Panama City Beach, Fl. to watch some softball and play in the sand. When our kids are seniors they get to pick a family vacation. If the Lord wills, Bethany is going to attend Central College next year and play softball there. So for her vacation she wanted to go to Florida to watch Central play in a tournament. We saw six games in three days! In one of those games Central's third baseman, Afton, made an error early in the game that didn't help the team at all. We were playing the defending National Champions and we were down 3-0 early in the game. Not a good feeling...especially when you are the one who made a big error. Aftons countenance and her body language told me that she was down on herself and apparently Central's catcher picked up on that too. As she motioned for Afton to come her way she gave her an encouraging slap and said, "Come on now, step it up." And Afton did. She chose to put the error behind her, she purposed to do better, and she did. It was an amazing game. Central was behind by 3 runs at 2 different times and by 4 runs another time and they came back each time. They ended up winning 14-13! Yes you saw that right....14-13. Not your typical fastpitch softball score.
As I was driving on the way home I was pondering the situation again. How many times do we see young athletes make a mistake that ends up ruining their entire game. Sometimes it even pours into the next game....and the next. They just won't let themselves move on. They dwell on that one mistake and pretty soon they can't do anything right. They are convinced that they are a Loser!
As I continued to drive, I was thinking about my spiritual life over the last 4-5 months. I have been disappointed. I have just been dry, not very passionate and even feeling kind of bored with where I'm at. Being bored with my spiritual life isn't something that I have experienced so it has really been bothering me. As I was thinking about that I heard a quiet whisper say, "suck it up!"
("Suck it up" was what I originally thought I heard Kelley say to Afton. My daughter Bethany informed me that Kelley said, "Step it up" which is much more like Kelley). Either way, it was true. I realized that I, like Afton, need to make a choice to set the circumstances aside and move forward. So what that my times with the Lord haven't been splashy, motivating and profound. He never promised that they always would be. I have been dwelling on it and I've ended up coming to His Word day after day expecting nothing. Certainly, there is no V-I-C-T-O-R-Y in that mentality.
Thanks Afton! I needed that reminder. I am already looking forward to meeting with God tomorrow and I know that it's going to be good!


(In the picture above Afton is in the back row, 3rd from the left, in front of the tall blonde.