The Fat Pitch

I am not a gambler. I don't buy lotto tickets, I refuse to bet at card games, I don't enter Super Bowl pools, I have never put a cent into a slot machine, I have yet to pick a pony at the horse track and I won't be found at a Black Jack table. But this year I made a wager on the college basketball tournament... and I lost. I try my best not to lose much but I honestly am pretty good at it. That isn't pessimism really, just honesty. Funny how you remember your loses much longer than your wins and make more of the criticism you receive than the compliments. My son Jacob got to hit in his little league game and was excited to face a pitcher that wasn't very good. He was looking forward to slamming the ball but everything fizzled when he was hit by the pitch. Give me ten moments I eagerly anticipate and nine will not be much. But...it is the bits of life I kind of throw away as meaningless that make me catch my breath. It has not been the smoothest of transitions, going from a traditional church to cell based. We probably stumble at it more than really get the changes right. But today, one of the members of our cell group was helping teach the kids and when everyone was asked what was the highlight of their week, she told them it was her time with her cell group. You must realize that Caryn worked all night before, got little sleep that day, had to go in to work afterward and battled a lenghty commute on a rainy night to get to the cell meeting. We gambled when we turned the structure of our church upside down and we sure aren't finished with the transitions but give me this day and I can lose my bet and smile a slippery little smile. Sometimes the pitch is fat and you crunch the ball...sometimes others do it for you but either way, it is pretty sweet.