Batter Up!

Every day after work, Dad would walk to Spencer's school and together they'd walk home, past the city baseball park. On Fridays the ballpark was bursting with noise from a city baseball game. Spencer wanted to see what was happening, but a tall wooden fence blocked the view. "Can we go in, Dad?" Spencer asked one day."The game's almost over now," said Dad. "Let's wait until we can see a whole game." Then Spencer noticed something. "I can see second base through this knothole." From another knothole, he could see third base. "But now I can't see second base anymore. No fair!"Then Dad said, "There's a bigger knothole up ahead. Go check it out." Spencer ran to it. "Dad! The batter just made it to second base!" "Can you see home plate?""No," Spencer said, disappointed. "I can still only see part of the action.""Knotholes are like that," Dad said. "When I was a kid, your grandpa used to tell me that life is like a knothole."Spencer made a face. "What does that mean?" "It means we only see what's right in front of us, even though we may wish we could see more--like during the pandemic when my company shut down. I was worried, but I didn't need to be because God could see what lay ahead." "So, it's like God sees the ballgame from inside the ballpark," said Spencer. "Yes, but even better than that, because He already knows how it will end. God had a better job waiting for me, but more importantly, He promises to make everything better one day. Jesus died and rose again so we could live with Him forever in a world free of sin and death." As they continued walking, Dad said, "Hey, next Friday I get off work early. I'll buy tickets and we can actually go to the game."Waiting a whole week was hard for Spencer. But when the day came, it was just like Dad promised. They saw the game from beginning to end from good seats as they feasted on hot dogs. "Was it worth the wait?" Dad asked. "Totally. Tonight we had God's view, sort of."Dad laughed. "That's right. And one day we'll have the best seats in heaven's ballpark. No waiting, no charge."Spencer grinned. "And no knotholes!" -Teresa Ambord