The First Visit

You see, I had been to this baseball diamond before. About six years ago while leading a bible study in our basement family room in Nutter Fort, WV, the Lord took me to this same place in the Spirit, this same little league baseball diamond. This earlier vision hadn’t included the gate or the spiral staircase. I just remember closing my eyes, feeling the presence of the Lord and I was there. I remember standing off to the first base side of this baseball diamond. The Lord was standing on my left and He waved His left hand in a sweeping motion as if to say look at the field.

As I did I saw that there was a group of young children playing and they were having a blast! No adults around to tell them what to do, they were running, jumping, laughing and having a great time. They were just playing baseball and loving it. There was so much pure joy and freedom on these kids. No anxiety, no stress, no pressure, they were just playing the game and enjoying one another.

My reaction was a stark contrast to the children’s. I immediately felt a self imposed stress trying to figure what this scene could mean. This had to be some kind of metaphor or a visual parable the Lord was communicating to me, I had to figure it out! I remember thinking to myself, OK, OK, Ok… the grass was green and colors have symbolic meaning, right? Yeah, yeah green could mean something, but what? And the field, it was in the shape of a diamond, surely that could mean something! And then there were the two teams, each had nine kids that was eighteen in all, surely numbers mean something here, right? But what! I had squeezed every last bit of theologic, philosophic and metaphoric understanding out of my brain cells and came up with absolutely nothing. God was asking ME a question and I failed to provide an answer.

Clueless and frustrated I turned to the Lord and said, “I don’t get it; it’s just a bunch of kids having fun, what’s the point?” Immediately, with a smile on His face, the Lord said to me “that’s the point!” and the experience ended.

The Lord wasn’t asking me a question; He was showing me that the Kingdom of God belonged to such as these. Those with childlike hearts who are free from the “grown up” stuff. Free from stress, pressure and performance of 21st century Christianity. Little ones who don’t have the need to figure it all out. Children who know how to play in the Kingdom, who know how to have fun in the Kingdom. Six years ago the Lord revealed to me that He wanted me to lighten up and learn to have fun like a little child playing baseball. Oh to be childlike without being childish.

This latest visit to the baseball diamond has revealed so much more.

To Be Continued…

© Tom Zawacki 2006