A Knock Upside the Head

Over the past several days with Amy and the kids out of town, I did some things that I don't normally do -- I did bachelor things.  I cooked for one.  I let the dishes and laundry stack up longer than I'm accustomed to.  I ate in front of the television.  Rebellion ran rampant in the parsonage for four days.

On Saturday I made up my lunch and plopped down in front of the the TV and tuned into a baseball game for the first time this spring (with the Badgers out of the NCAA tourney at that point, college basketball had become meaningless to me).  The Cubs were hosting the Padres, and while I only watched the first two innings, I happened to catch the best part of the entire broadcast, and none of it happened on the field.

During the game, the announcers were interviewing Cub pitcher Ryan Dempster in the dugout.  Ryan has been tabbed as the opening day starting pitcher for the Cubs this year, but he wasn't playing in this particular game.  It also happened to be that Ryan's son was present with him that day, I would guess that the boy's probably about four years old, and in the middle of the interview, he starts pawing at his dad and trying to get his attention to ask him a question.  The coolest thing was, was that Ryan asked the announcers to hold on for a moment so that dad could respond to his son.

In this age of prima donna ballplayers, that was one of the neatest things I have ever seen a ballplayer do.  As a fan, I've been frustrated in the past when one of my kids tried to get my attention while I was watching a ballgame, yet, here the irony was that the ballplayer at the game put everything else on hold so that he could respond to his kid.

Events like these really put me in my place and remind me of who and what are the important things in life.

I sure am lucky that God gives me these reminders on a regular basis, because I couldn't make it as a bachelor anyway.

Pastor Mark