Baseball and Scripture

Rawlings Bull Series

From T-ball fields to major league stadiums across the United States, America’s pastime is back. In other words, baseball season has begun!

Even though I didn’t play it in high school, baseball was always my favorite sport as a child. In fact, I enjoyed baseball so much that I joined a tournament team and played year-round.

Today I want to take a second to tell you about my baseball glove. My uncle is a salesman for Rawlings Sporting Goods, and when I was in fifth grade he gave me a very nice glove for Christmas. It was a Rawlings Bull Series glove, brown leather with black lacing, 10 3/4 inches long. I absolutely loved that glove, and there is no telling how many games I played with it, most of them either pitching or at third base.

Fast-forward to my high school days. I wasn’t playing baseball anymore, but I still had that glove. I just kept it in a plastic bin in our garage with some other sports equipment and used it from time to time, but not often at all. One day when my parents were having a garage sale, I pulled up to our house and saw a customer walking around with my glove! I hopped out of my car, rushed to find my dad, and asked him what was going on. Why did that person have my glove in their hand like they were going to buy it? Why was my glove for sale???

Apparently my parents didn’t think that glove was wanted or needed anymore, so they included it in the sale. But I begged to differ! I didn’t use that glove much, but whenever I needed a glove, that’s the one I wanted. It was well broken in. It fit my hand perfectly (like a glove, I should say). I still have that glove to this day and still use it whenever I play catch.

For me, that glove is a lot like the many Scripture verses I have memorized over the years. Thanks to church children’s programs like AWANA and TeamKid, I memorized lots of Scripture growing up. I don’t think about or use most of those verses on a daily basis, but whenever I need to recall one, it’s there.

It’s just like my old baseball glove. I don’t use it much, but whenever I need it, it’s there and it fits me perfectly.

Whenever I need to make a decision, I sometimes think about a verse I have memorized. Whenever someone asks for advice, I often quote Scripture to them. Whatever I may need it for, it’s always there.

So in conclusion, let me take a second to encourage you to memorize some Scripture. Whether you’re 8 or 18 or 80, what you memorize today will probably stick with you for the rest of your life.

Here are a few tips for memorizing Scripture:

• Memorize verses from a Bible translation that is easy for you to understand
• Start small, even with just half a verse if necessary (try 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17)
• If it is a longer verse, memorize it in parts
• Take your time (don’t memorize it in one day and then forget about it; commit a verse to memory over the course of 3-4 days, or maybe even a week)
• Build your confidence (after you learn some individual verses, try to memorize a paragraph and eventually an entire chapter)
• Let memorization lead to meditation (think about its meaning when you’re lying in bed or driving down the road)

Most of all, I know that when you commit the time to memorize Scripture, God will use it to challenge you and change you. He will challenge you to become more like Him and change the way you view the world around you.