Losers

Last Friday, we went to see our grandson, Joshua, play in little league state championship playoff games, in which his dad is the assistance coach. Joshua is very good; he plays catcher and some times pitcher and rarely strikes out when batting. They had already won a game the day before and were scheduled for two games that Friday. We watched them win the first one that morning, 13 to 1 but the temperature for the next game at 5 o’clock was at 100 degrees. Before the game started, I prayed for a little relief in the weather for the kids and us. There were some small clouds over the mountains in the West, and by late afternoon they had gotten larger and eventually blocked the sun and a breeze came up. It felt at least ten degrees cooler or more, and was a relief for everyone there. I thanked God.

However, there was no relief for the young players on the other team as “our side” beat them 17 to 0 even with the relief players playing the last inning. They were ahead by more than 10 points after four innings and so the game was called.

Joshua’s team had played the same team a few weeks earlier and beat them 20 to 0. However, in the playoffs, every team is guaranteed to play at least four games even if they lost every game. It gave each team the opportunity to place at least four games before eliminations, but you could still go home, knowing that you had lost all four games. I can’t imagine how the young boys in that situation would feel having lost all four games. This is where a really good coach is needed the most.

At the end of each game the families and friends all applauded both teams efforts, but how do the kids really feel, especially the loosing team? These little boys had done their best and played their heart out, but in the sports world, there are always the winners and the losers, the cheers and the tears. Just as there was when I played in little league. But, do they see themselves as losers? I hope not! Sometimes, I think parents put too much pressure and expectations on their children when they are so young.

Joshua just turned eleven and already has won dozens of trophies and ribbons from baseball and rodeo events, but what about all the other kids in life? Even Joshua’s older brother, Austin, who doesn’t play any sports, doesn’t feel like a winner. He has some issues from early childhood that only God can heal, and we are praying for him. He doesn’t realizes how special he really is, yet. And there are many others children who probably feel the same way, like a loser, but they are not in real life.

There are also many adults who feel like losers for one reason or another, maybe a broken marriage, unemployed, or abused and that is why it is so important to know who you really are. In the Kingdom of Heaven, God sees no losers. All His children are special and have an important role in life to fulfill. The only real losers in life are those who reject the Truth.

P.S. While I was writing this article, my daughter texted that Joshua’s team won again, Saturday 13 to 1. Then Sunday they won the first game and lost the second game by two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. However, the director of the event said she had never seen two teams that both played so well, so for the first time, two teams are being sent to regional playoffs. So the losers are still winners. Eventually they will face some team that is a little better than them. It’s a part of life and we can accept it, if we know who we are. In the Kingdom of God there is no competition, everyone there is loved and a winner when they follow their heavenly Father’s loving plan for their life.

One of the best things I got to do thing past week was pray with Joshua the first day when we got here, and I told him that he would grow up to be like his grandfather, and he would get to know the heart of God. And he would see thing much differently than the way he does now.