Baselines and Glass Bottles

Sports. I love them! Softball began at age four, basketball in fifth grade, volleyball in seventh, and soccer was thoroughly enjoyed from age five through the sixth grade. At times, I'd run for kicks n' giggles and I even tried some karate when I was young--right after my debut in Tumbling Tots! Needless to say, it's a part of me: sports have contributed to me becoming, well, me.

As a result, certain words resonate deeply within my being. Words like "conditioning." Ew. It ignites both fear and excitement within me and reminds me of the three worst words in the English language, yelled by my stern-faced coach: "On the line!" he bellows, hands on his hips. On the line. A tingling sensation begins in my toes and slowly works it's way up through my body as I align my foot to the edge of the baseline, behind the hoop. This is the portion of practice we dread; we look to sprints with an almost holy reverence.

God is taking me through spiritual conditioning, pushing me through spiritual exercises to tone and develop areas of myself that must be stronger, or developed at all. He is showing me muscles that I didn't know (or forgot) existed [Like when you play softball for the first time in months. Ouch!].

God is my life coach and, at times, my stern-faced man with his hands on his hips, blowing the whistle, declaring, "On the line!" I have the privilege of learning from the Best and, as a result, coming out stronger, and more refined. Wiser. Bolder. And with holy reverence I can approach the baseline, confident that it is good that I am challenged; it is not for my destruction. Sprints in the gym never hindered our performance on the court; they pushed us past our limits and allowed us to work beyond our perceptions of "the impossible." The same is true for me now, in my spiritual walk with my Coach.

But I have to stand on the baseline when he commands. I have to sprint when he blows the whistle. And sometimes, I have to experience discomfort in order to reap the benefits of learning beneath the Wing of the One who knows, who has the foresight to see the significance of the long stretch of sprints. He delights in my willing spirit to "stand on the baseline" and run hard for godly refining.

If you're anything like me, you might be experiencing refinement right now. You probably have moments where your new realizations (or reminders) cause you to stop and wonder why you've wasted time getting it wrong. Perhaps you are tempted to feel guilty about instructions that are so straight forward in the Bible--and, yes, you've always known them--but for the first time, they smack you in the face! DON'T FEEL GUILTY. Guilt is never of God; but conviction is. How many times did Christ have to say to his disciples, "Wow, you still don't get it?" Yet simultaneously, with compassionate eyes and abounding in grace, he says, "But man oh man, do I ever love you. I will teach you again."

Consider this: You hold an empty Jones Soda bottle in your hands and walk down a beach that is lined with hundreds of broken, colorful pieces of glass. You collect your favorite pieces and fill the bottle to the brim. You walk for miles, admiring your Jones Soda bottle that glimmers in the sunlight. However, as you continue walking, you notice cooler, more beautiful pieces of glass, that you'd prefer to have in your Jones Soda bottle. But there's no room for them. In order to have the most beautiful pieces of glass in the bottle, you must remove the good pieces and replace them with the best pieces. The old pieces weren't bad, they just weren't as awesome as they could be--but it takes time and effort to remove the old pieces. You may even cut your fingers on its sharp edges. But the final result is flabberghasting. It is awe-inspiring. It is worthy of the effort.

So stand on the baseline. Listen to our Coach. Ask that you may walk by the Spirit today, not by the flesh. And be filled with only the best, most brilliant glass on the beach.

Check out 2 Corinthians 5:17, James 1: 2-5, Philippians 1: 4-6