PeeWee Baseball, Wine, & Churchland Assumptions
by Peter Hogg
PeeWee Baseball The bleacher‐full of parents stood and yelled, "Run, John, r‐u‐u‐n!" Their
clapping and cheering was as confusing to little 6 year‐old John Hogg (my son) as was the fact that he had just hit the ball. It seemed that this was the first year that the powers‐at‐be had taken away the "tee" on which the baseball usually rested, so the batter could hit it with an inexperienced swing. These were 6, 7 and 8 year‐old children on their first quest at pre‐little league baseball. Also, it seemed that the decisionmakers didn't realize the fact that that age child was, for the most part, undeveloped in the hand‐eye coordination necessary to hit a moving softball, thrown gently underhand in a long slow downward arc. Well, duh - that's why they (used to) use a tee!
by Peter Hogg
PeeWee Baseball The bleacher‐full of parents stood and yelled, "Run, John, r‐u‐u‐n!" Their
clapping and cheering was as confusing to little 6 year‐old John Hogg (my son) as was the fact that he had just hit the ball. It seemed that this was the first year that the powers‐at‐be had taken away the "tee" on which the baseball usually rested, so the batter could hit it with an inexperienced swing. These were 6, 7 and 8 year‐old children on their first quest at pre‐little league baseball. Also, it seemed that the decisionmakers didn't realize the fact that that age child was, for the most part, undeveloped in the hand‐eye coordination necessary to hit a moving softball, thrown gently underhand in a long slow downward arc. Well, duh - that's why they (used to) use a tee!
Many, if not most of the team members were like my son ‐ flailing at the air until luck came maybe once during the entire season. Being so young, it did not faze the children - just the parents.
But the tee's absence eliminated the whole paradigm of why they were up to bat: to get a run or even a home run (wishful thinking). That assumption was changed that season into only one desired outcome: hit the ball! That being the case, John was not the first child to stand frozen when the bat actually connected with the ball. There was no other expectation to do anything. So the bleacher bellowers shouted, "Run, John, r‐u‐u‐n!," not to cheer on the batter, but as the command for what to do next. The next year, of course, they returned the tee to PeeWee baseball. So, the erroneous assumption that little children had the hand‐eye coordination to get a hit (and a run) turned a prosperous time into a frustrating and embarrassing (I think for parents, mostly) time.
Assumptions. They can gently get us to our goal. Or, they can frustrate us and embarrass us when things don't work out as they should.
Wine It seems a small, poor village in France had loved the town‐doctor for his 40 years of
medicine and almost payless caring for the villagers as if they were all his family. He was old now and would "retire." What to do for him? They all had vineyards, but little else. They were poor. They only had wine. The town council decided they would ask all the villagers to bring some of their own wine in jugs and pour it into a large common barrel put in the town square - all under cover of darkness on a designated night. They did. They next day at noon everyone showed up with food, and the doctor in tow, to have a grand feast and thank him with this exceptional show of gratitude. At the crowning moment the doctor was given a ladle to dip and taste the combined sweet fruit of everyone's vineyard. He did. He did again. His face registered confusion. It was water. It seemed everyone in the village reasoned, "I am so poor. No one will miss my little jug of wine. Since it is under cover of darkness, I will pour my jug of water into the great barrel, and no one will ever know." That assumption, like the lesser one in PeeWee baseball, turned a prosperous time into a frustrating and embarrassing time.
Churchland I thought of that story when I read that after a month of much communication and hard work on the part of Christ Church's stewardship committee, about 250+ pledges had come in from a possibility of over 1,200 units. That's not a criticism. But it gave me cause to wonder why I thought about the disturbing assumptions in PeeWee baseball, wine gifts and Churchland. I have no doubt that God will complete Christ Church's task just as the managers changed the next year's baseball rules. After all, we are God's, and God can always hit a home run ‐ tee or no tee.
Leave a comment