by Rick Furmanek
I recall hearing a pitching instructor share with his pupils that during a player's baseball career there are dozens of different light bulbs that will turn on in his mind. Something will click where the mental understanding and the physical ability to execute will be in unison. He went on to confess that this continued to happen to him even as a pitcher in the Majors. Sometimes it would happen during a game while standing on the hill.
If you've coached for any length of time, you know the importance of providing the right environment where this can happen. And nothing gets a coach more excited as when he sees a player he's been working with who all of the sudden 'gets it'. We can teach the proper mechanics and methodology all we want, but it won't have its desired full effect until that light bulb turns on.
Whether it be figuring out the 'touch' of a change up on the hill . . . or discovering the effectiveness of a short, compact stroke . . . or running on an angle to a fly ball . . . or charging a ball on the infield, it's a privilege to watch when a young man stops being someone who just plays the game of baseball and actually is transformed into a baseball player.
This is a great picture of what can happen in our own lives. God provides the instruction through his Word, the Bible. We can learn all sorts of good things about right and wrong, how to be kind and compassionate, how to have a solid family . . . then something happens one day . . . something clicks and we see it all in a different light. We get it. A light bulb goes off. The Bible calls it awakening the inner man or making us alive.
The Apostle Paul wrote a book in the Bible called Colossians. In one part it says this:
"When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. God brought you alive--right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins forgiven!" Colossians 2:13
I love the part where it says that "God brought you alive." This means I don't have to try to figure out how to live this life on my own intellect. I'm not responsible for locating and turning on the inner switch. I can, instead, trust that God will turn it on if I ask him to. And the wonderful thing about God is that He always answers our requests. Listen to the words of John the Apostle:
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16
And again Christ says:
"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8:12
We can read the Bible every day, we can go to Church every Sunday, we can try to live a good life, but the forgiveness that the Bible speaks of won't have its desired full effect until God turns on that inner light bulb and the Light of Christ shines in our lives. And all one needs to do is ask.
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