Keep Running

I love listening to podcasts. There are several that I subscribe to. Some I try to listen to every week but others I never miss. One of those that I never miss is the Fun Therapy podcast led by my friend, Mike Foster.

In his recent podcast he told a story that I loved.

It was the story of Jeremy Brown, a baseball player for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He’s an infielder and, honestly, a bigger guy who weighed about 240 at the time. He wasn’t known for his speed or his agility. As he comes up to bat, the pitcher throws a fastball and Jeremy swings as hard as he can and makes contact with the ball. He sprints as fast as he can to first base and – not seeing the ball coming back his direction – he begins to think he can stretch this play into a double. So he goes for it. But, here’s the problem. As he crosses first and heads towards second, he loses his footing and falls hard on his face. Afraid of getting an out for his team, he literally begins to crawl back to first. As he lays on his face and his hand touches first base, you can see the players laughing on the field. But, here’s the thing: They weren’t laughing at him; they were laughing at what he didn’t know. Jeremy had hit the ball 60 feet over the back fence. He had hit a home run.

If you watch the video on YouTube, you see the first baseman lean down and say something to Jeremy. The first baseman simply says two words to him: “Keep running.” That’s when he realizes that what he thought was his worst failure was, actually, just the opposite.

There’s a pretty great lesson found in this story for us all, right? Sometimes all we can see is the dirt. However, what if there’s something far greater at play than you realize?

I keep a passage of Isaiah printed out next to my computer in my office.

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. – Isaiah 40:28

Catch those last words of Isaiah 40:28? “…his understanding no one can fathom.”

Here’s what I know today: God is for you. Not against you. (See Romans 8:31) Know that.

What comes next?