Small Ball
How many of you played baseball or softball growing up? I had a great experience playing little league; I always had caring coaches and I was good enough to play on some All-Star teams. But despite that I wasn’t very adept at one thing:
Hitting. Yes, the thing that you needed to do in order to get on base and drive home runs. I could make contact but my spaghetti-for-arms power was lacking. I resorted to just making contact with the ball and running as fast as I could to get to first base. I was good at drawing walks. I was hit by pitches. I would do anything I could do to get to that initial base. Once there I could create and find ways to make it around the rest of the bases. I would steal bases and push the limits of what the other team could do.
In baseball terms they call this “small ball”. It’s where you generate runs by doing seemingly small things over and over. You get a walk. You hit a single. You move runners around not by big, majestic home runs, but by taking advantage of every opportunity and hustle. You make runs 90-feet at a time.
I was a “small-ball” kind of baseball player but I think it’s been woven into my family. We aren’t a family of baseball fanatics but I believe God used my Dad to set up a “small-ball” mentality for ministry. Maybe you can relate with your walk with God.
You see, my dad changed his career and we changed our location for him to pastor a church. For 30 years he stood at the front of a congregation and taught, encouraged, and motivated. But as big as the building was the church attendance seemed to stay the same. It wasn’t small but it wasn’t big. And that’s ok! He spoke to the people that were there and that was the main thing. He was mega-dedicated even though it wasn’t a “mega-church”!
But beyond a Sunday morning service I witnessed my Dad playing “small-ball”. There were early morning and late-night phone calls. There were visitors at the kitchen table. My Dad racked up a ton of miles on his vehicles visiting those that needed a friend or a voice of reason. They needed an honest to goodness Pastor for wherever they were. My dad’s game was not full of ministry “home runs” like big events, packed crowds, and giant speaking engagements but lots and lots of little conversations to the people that needed to hear God’s word. Most of those conversations were outside of the church building.
Small ball is needed. In baseball and ministry. If you know Him there will be times to share Him and represent Him. Kingdom building isn’t always big stuff you know.
Small ball may look different for you. It looks different for me than my Dad. I was riding my bike the other week and I had a friend on my mind. I thought back to conversations with him and I thought I should text him a quick note and prayer. So I did. Small ball.
Fast forward a few weekends and I’m sending my youngest son off to the starting line of a state-championship mountain bike race. Since it was half a mile from the start to the actual course I set him up and took off running for the course, where I planned on cheering him on.
Sometime in that few minutes between my drop off and his starting time Sam’s bike decided to eject a pedal. He stood there on the starting line with his pedal attached to his shoe, which would do nothing since it wasn’t connected to the bike!
Sam stood there and a few other dads saw what happened. Within seconds they had tools out and were running around trying to make something happen for Sam. I got a phone call about what was happening but there was nothing I could do to help since his start time was 2 minutes away and I was half a mile away. Sam had a whole crew of his Dad’s friends trying to make some magic happen to enable him to race.
They were less than a minute from the start and Sam was without a pedal. As the seconds flew by, our friend Dan, the guy who I texted just a few weeks prior, rolled his bike through the chute and had Sam swap his race number plate. Sam was going to race…on a borrowed bike! He had 15 seconds to spare and he quickly found his spot in the front row.
The race started and Sam took off. You wouldn’t know anything was different if you didn’t know Sam. He was focused but not too serious. He was as calm as a racer could be…even with not having a bike to ride 30 seconds prior to his biggest race of the year!
When all of the miles were done Sam brought home 2nd place. He was extremely happy with that and had a chance for a post-race interview with the MC. He relayed the story and provided perspective to his situation and a bit of humor. In a world of competition and placings it was funny to hear him say “well, I was fortunate enough to have another coach give me a bike at the last minute, so I just rode it like I stole it!”.
Small ball. You might feel a nudge to encourage someone in the middle of the day. You may have exactly what someone needs at the time they need it. You may need to smile and laugh despite things going sideways in your plans. Small ball is God’s work in daily life. God’s work can be moving one base at a time. One nudge at a time. One meaningful word at a time. It’s not always about the big production, shares, likes, or big numbers. God can certainly be in those too but the secret pace with Him is often paved with obedience in small ball! Know Him, listen to Him, and do what He leads you to do. You can teach, preach, and encourage with a lot of little things!
