HOLD FAST

TODAY: “How do I sing the Lord’s song in foreign lands?” the psalmist asks. How did you feel the last time you found yourself in an unknown or unexpected place? How will you greet the next person you see who seems to be in a foreign place?

As far back as I can remember, I played baseball. Each summer my father would coach the team leading us into yet another losing season, not because of a lack of heart but a lack of talent. As the star shortstop and pitcher, my Godgiven ability fell short of carrying the team to championship caliber. Baseball, after all, was designed for nine players to win, not one.

My Little League mishaps were not serious enough to dampen my dreams, though. Hope abounds in a world of possibilities, especially through the eyes of a child. Langston Hughes said, “Hold fast to dreams,” and hold on I did … breaking records in middle school, awing varsity coaches in high school and headlining the sports pages with awards such as the Colonial District Player of the Year. God gives us all a way, but it is up to us to discover it. Mine just happened to be with a bat and a ball – a children’s game played with grace and passion.

Soon I traveled off to college, and my dream came right along with me. Tryouts were long and brutal in the cold wind of fall weather. Dad was not there to coach me, and Babylon threw me against the rocks. I did not make the team, not because of a lack of heart, but a lack of talent in a foreign land. Where was God? I’d lost my way.

Today I continue to search for that way, hoping and dreaming as a child once did. Dad is still with me, but God is now my coach. It is He who guides me … it is He who holds fast.

— Adam Westbury, inmate, James River
Correctional Institute, State Farm, Virginia

Courtesy of The Church of the Good Shepherd United Methodist