Hello,
I just got back from attending my 40th
high school reunion (Wow! I am getting old!). I grew up in suburban Chicago with a graduating class of
around 600 kids, almost all of whom I haven’t seen since we tossed our
mortarboards in the air in 1975.
I wasn’t sure what the reunion would bring. Would I be recognized and remembered? Would I recognize and remember
others? Would my reception be warm
or cold? Would the memories that
came back bring a smile to my face or pain to my heart?
Turns out that to say it was wonderful is an understatement. People that I knew well in high school
welcomed me with homecoming warmth, and people whom I hardly knew at all 40
years ago were equally open armed.
For some, they were easily recognizable, as they didn’t look very
different from the graduation picture that we each wore on our nametags. Other’s of us had “transformed” a bit
and it was a bit harder to decipher our identity, but once deciphered the
universal reply was, “Oh, yeah!”
I found myself remembering class times and team times with many of the
folks, as many likewise remembered me.
Of the things for which I was remembered was my time on the baseball
mound as a pitcher. Two of the guys who were our catchers were at the reunion
as well as a couple of others who ran around the diamond with me all those
years ago. My pitching forte was
not a blazing fastball, but a down-breaking curve ball that many found
difficult to hit.
Curve balls are hard to hit, not just on a baseball field, but also in
life. They knock you off balance
and they make your brain go through trigonometric calculations in order to hit
them. Although not many of the
reunion conversations revolved around the curve balls that have been thrown at
us over the years, if others’ lives have been like mine (and I am certain that
they have), we have all seen our fair share of them….hitting some and whiffing
at others.
In 1975 the Lutheran Church put together a new hymnal, “The Green One”,
and in it is a prayer that I have often said when I have stepped up to the
plate of life.
“Lord God you have called your servants to ventures of which
we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils
unknown. Give us faith to go out
with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that you hand is leading
us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
As I think about the collections of lives and stories at our reunion –
ventures of which we could not see the ending, on paths we had never trod, and
into perils which we would not imagine – I find myself thankful for the grace
of God that has taken a hold of me (and I believe all my classmates) lo these
40 years, giving courage, strength, and hope to persevere…stepping up to the
plate day after day to attack what has been thrown our way….fastball, curve, or
change up….sometimes getting a hit….sometimes striking out…but never sent in defeat to the bench forever!
A couple of years ago, the Lutheran church put together another new
hymnal, “The Cranberry One”, and when I first opened it, I went searching for
my at bat prayer. It’s there! It is there for me to pray for all the
years ahead of me (I doubt it to be 40)…actually for all of us to pray for the
years ahead of all of us (for some it will be 40 and more).
I discovered that I am remembered after 40 years for throwing a pretty
unhittable curveball in high school, but my curve ball isn’t anything compared
to some of the curve balls that life has thrown and will throw. So today and everyday ahead of me, as I
pick up my bat and step to the plate, I know that I will do so with a prayer rolling
through my soul – a prayer that I have often prayed, and a prayer that I have
seen answered over and over again – a prayer that I invite you to pray when you
take your bat in hand….
“Lord God, you have called your servants…..”
Have a great week!
Play ball!
God’s grace and peace,
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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