The Banjo Hitter Goes Yard

“There is nothing that we can do without the power of God.” – C.H. Spurgeon

In my 25 seasons of playing softball with The Saints Prison Ministry, I had more than 5,000 plate appearances and several thousand base hits along with hundreds of walks. During that long career, I was considered a “banjo hitter,” meaning that I looked for “holes” in the defense and did my best to hit the ball through one of them, mostly for a single.

Occasionally, I would stretch my hit into a double or a triple, but that was about it. In fact, in all those thousands of at-bats, I only had four home runs. Three of them – one in Philadelphia, one in Delaware, and one in Canada – were “inside the park” homers, and just one cleared a fence. Maybe it was the short fence in left or the dry air in New Mexico, but I finally got to practice my home run trot after years of trying.

I have to believe that God wanted me to experience that once-in-a-lifetime feeling because, in my own strength, I simply cannot hit a softball farther than 250 feet. And since most outfield fences are at least 300 feet from home plate, that explains my lack of home run power, save that lone exception in the New Mexico desert.

I use that simple sports illustration to make a singular point: without God, I am helpless. He created me and He sustains me. Every breath I take is a gift of God… and what I do with those breaths is my gift to Him.

Realizing, like Charles Spurgeon, that there is nothing I can do apart from God is liberating. To me, it places all of the responsibility on Him to accomplish something good and eternal in my life. After all, left to my own devices and desires, the only thing I am capable of doing is sin. But with the Holy Spirit indwelling and empowering me, the sky is the limit.

That applies to you as well, my friend!

“…being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6 (NKJV)

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President