{"id":3506,"date":"2014-07-22T07:14:26","date_gmt":"2014-07-22T11:14:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=3506"},"modified":"2014-07-22T07:14:26","modified_gmt":"2014-07-22T11:14:26","slug":"2-strikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=3506","title":{"rendered":"2 strikes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"photo\"<\/a>As our youth baseball schedule wraps up for another year, I am again reminded of how God teaches me through the ordinary.\u00a0 I used to think the God of the universe utilized some cleverly, divine two by fours; then I realized the ordinary is so much more effective…<\/p>\n

We were sitting in the stands, eagerly awaiting a come-from-behind rally, under the lights of the small D1 school.\u00a0 It was a special moment for those undaunted, 15 year old boys.<\/p>\n

Truthfully, the game had become somewhat emotional by this point, especially for the adults, soaking in the sentiment of previous innings.\u00a0 In a split second swing at an earlier fastball, one of our players\u2019 cleats remained firmly lodged in the artificial turf; \u00a0his right knee cap was then immediately dis-<\/i>lodged.\u00a0 With the instant, accompanying cries of pain and panic, it was a gruesome sight… especially when you love the kid.\u00a0 Thus, we were waiting for something good.<\/p>\n

With a man on and the rally ready, our non-fiction version of Speedy Gonzalez stepped up to the plate.\u00a0 The young man is a joy to watch, as a hard hit combined with his uncommon quickness often leads to an exciting play.\u00a0 The moment was undoubtedly intensifying.<\/p>\n

\u201cStrike,\u201d<\/i> the umpire subtly motioned on the first pitch thrown.<\/p>\n

We eagerly awaited… \u00a0and then…<\/p>\n

\u201cStrike three!\u00a0 You\u2019re out!\u201d<\/i> yelled the ump in a far more emphatic fashion.\u00a0 However, \u201cstrike three\u201d was called on strike number two.<\/p>\n

In the questioning that immediately quieted the crowd, neither team\u2019s supporters knew how to respond…\u00a0 \u201cReally?\u00a0 Did he really just call the boy out on only two strikes?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Fairly respectful clamors clang from the crowd, attempting to respectfully alert the umpire of his obvious error.\u00a0 The coaches also joined in the questioning, perhaps wondering if there was some kind of \u201cnew math\u201d that had yet to be announced.\u00a0 The ump motioned to our coach to hold off — stay where he was; he would confer with his likeminded peer on the field to discuss what happened.<\/p>\n

For an odd, a little-too-long, hushed moment, the two umpires huddled on the field.\u00a0 It was obvious neither had a ball\/strike clicker — and that neither truly knew the count.\u00a0 After the brief conference, the home plate umpire raised his clenched fist in the air and again signaled \u201cout.\u201d<\/p>\n

At that point our coach stepped onto the field, and yelled, \u201cWhat?\u00a0 It\u2019s only two strikes,\u201d<\/i> to which the field umpire promptly yelled more loudly back for our coach to get back in the dugout, as \u201cthe decision has been made.\u201d<\/p>\n

So here in front of teens who tend to take in all of our adult behavior were two men who had made a obvious mistake, discussed only with the likeminded, and when confronted with the facts, simply shouted for all opposition to shut up.\u00a0 They refused to dialogue; they refused help from both partial and impartial influence; they refused to acknowledge they even needed<\/i> help; they instead focused most on silencing refuting fact.<\/p>\n

Sometimes we teach our children well.\u00a0 Sometimes we don\u2019t.\u00a0 They will learn from both our successes and mistakes… even from the ordinary.<\/p>\n

Respectfully…<\/p>\n

AR<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As our youth baseball schedule wraps up for another year, I am again reminded of how God teaches me through the ordinary.\u00a0 I used to think the God of the universe utilized some cleverly, divine two by fours; then I realized the ordinary is so much more effective… We were sitting in the stands, eagerly … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “2 strikes”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3506"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3510,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3506\/revisions\/3510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}