Life on the Pasture

My daughter Marissa shared a story about Christian Yelich taking time to play catch with a 12-year-old boy named Tate. Then my son Isaac texted that today would have been the first varsity baseball game of the season. And so what does a Dad who loves his son and baseball do? He texts back: “Wanna have a catch?”

Some of you may recall that line from the 1989 movie Field of Dreams which ended with a father and son playing catch in an Iowa cornfield that had been converted into a ball field. In fact, a few years ago Isaac went with me to Iowa where I was blessed to preach at the funeral of one of our dear members. On the way home we stopped where the movie was shot and played catch.

Every time I play catch with my son, I start thinking back to playing catch with my Dad. During one period of my life, it was a nightly ritual. I was never going to be a good ballplayer. Weak eyesight made that a harsh reality. But sharing that time with my Dad gave me not only a chance to pretend for a bit about what it would be like to play a sport I love, it also gave me special one-on-one time with my Dad.

I am not going to try to explain why God is allowing this COVID-19 virus to do what it is doing. There are obviously many tragic results. But there are also some good things coming out of it, such as a reprioritization of time and parents reconnecting with their kids and having quality one-on-one time and making memories for life.

Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” This challenging time does bring with it opportunities to model for our children the perfect love of our heavenly Father which is ours through our Lord Jesus.

I wonder if when I get to heaven I’ll hear, “Wanna have a catch?”

– Pastor Schmidt

Photo by Jon Eckert on Unsplash