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“Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.” - Mother Teresa October, 2020 Last month, the St. Louis sports
community and baseball itself suffered a
profound loss with the passing of former St.
Louis Cardinals left fielder Lou Brock.
Maplewood UMC’s own Ben Frederickson, writing
in the
As a student at Southern University in Louisiana, Brock tried out for his college baseball team. But he nearly didn’t take the field that day. He was nervous and uncertain. Then he saw a young boy playing ball with some college players, and decided if that boy could gather the nerve to play, then so could he. Brock proceeded to give the tryout his all, and hit four of five pitches out of the park, cementing his future. Afterward, he tried to find the boy who had been such an inspiration but couldn’t. He asked some of his new teammates but received only confused looks and blank stares. They thought Brock was imagining or inventing things. Negro Leagues Museum president Bob Kendrick said later that there was no boy that day. After the initial reaction, Brock kept the story to himself for years until one day when he shared it with the late manager and scout Buck O’Neil, who replied, “There are angels everywhere.” We’ll probably never know who the boy was or if he even existed but we do know there are things that are simply beyond our human understanding. Shakespeare wrote, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” (Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5). The boy was an “angel” for Brock, at a time when he needed one. Brock was respected not only as an exemplary baseball player but as a genuinely decent human being. He didn’t have to thank a random boy who happened to be playing ball at the right time but he chose, even as a young man, to do what he believed was “right.” It should be no surprise that a man who may have once seen an “angel” became an ordained minister serving at Abundant Life Fellowship Church in St. Louis after retiring from baseball, along with his wife, Jackie. Together, they founded Sounds from Heaven Media Ministry. We can “do the right thing” too. We can be “angels” for someone. We can offer encouragement and compassion. Our example can show them Christ or it can show them that what we proclaim is a lie. Jesus warned the people about the religious leaders of his day, “‘The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice.’” (Matt. 23:2-3 ESV). Sadly, things have not changed in the last two thousand years. Author William J. Toms wrote, “Be careful how you live. You may be the only Bible some person ever reads.” In the same way, we may be the only “angels” some person ever sees. The author of Hebrews called angels Someone could be watching you and me. Someone might see us “in the outfield” as we play the game of life. If we play fairly, giving the game our all, they will see. If we show courage and determination, they will see. If we show that “the rules” matter to us, they will see. And just perhaps we might be an “angel” for someone. “Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the Copyright
© 2020 by David Phelps
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