I am currently reading “Your Detroit Tigers – the Great, the Good, the Top 400” by Tom Gage with Alex Avila (thanks, Keith). While I expect all of you know we are celebrating our nation’s 250th anniversary, I am not sure how many know that the Detroit Tigers have been around for half of those years. Founded in 1901 (that’s why season ticket holders are called “The 1901 Society”), our MLB team is celebrating its 125th anniversary. This has prompted me to do some reflecting upon my life.
Using a very specific metric, Gage lists the top 10 Tiger hitters of all time as 1) Ty Cobb, 2) Al Kaline, 3) Charlie Gehringer, 4) Lou Whitaker, 5) Alan Trammell, 6) Harry Heilmann, 7) Migel Cabrera, 8) Sam Crawford, 9) Hank Greenberg, and 10) Norm Cash. The only one who was not alive in my lifetime (Harry Heilman) died at the age of 56. I fondly remember rooting for five of the ten during my lifetime (Al Kaline’s career as a Tiger started the year I was born). That is a whole lot of history covered in my lifetime!
Using a different metric, the top 10 pitchers list is as follows: 1) Micky Lolich, 2) Justin Verlander, 3) Hal Newhouser, 4) Jack Morris, 5) George Mullin, 6) Hooks Dauss, 7) Tommy Bridges, 8) Dizzy Trout, 9) Wild Bill Donovan, and 10) Jim Bunning. Two of them (Mullin at 64 and Donovan at 47) left this earth before I came along. And I must admit that I had never before heard of Hooks or Wild Bill. However, three of the top four I saw pitch for our Tigers – and number 10 was a hero of mine at Tiger Stadium (I also “followed him” all the way to the US Senate). Finally, overlapping Mr. Tiger’s career, Hal Newhouser’s last year as a Tiger was the year I was born.
At a recent funeral I found myself reflecting on the many times I have had the privilege of serving families in this regard over the years. In my first years of ministry I buried some World War One veterans. Since then there have been vets from World War Two, Korea, Vietnam, and multiple other military actions. There was a time when I was visiting three different men in hospice – one a veteran from WW2, one from Korea, and one from Vietnam – and I was amazed at how similar their post-war trauma stories were. I also note that in every year since my ordination in 1993 I have buried at least one individual who was younger than me (an ever-present reminder of my mortality).
It’s more pleasant to reflect upon other “major life events” that have privileged me. I haven’t stayed in touch with all of the couples who spoke their wedding vows in front of me, but I know some are grandparents (I confess I am not sure about any being great-grandparents) … talk about feeling old! However, I must confess it puts a special smile on my face as I hear about their children – and grandchildren – growing up. Joel was supposed to be my first baptism, but another one “snuck in” a week or so prior. And I have one booked for the week after we return from vacation.
The privileged life we all are granted in our baptism is described by Peter this way: “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2.9) One does not need to be a pastor for over 40 years or have lived for over 73 to have reflections like mine. Our privileges – like our gifts and our life stories – are all different, but equally real and equally blessed by our Lord and Savior Jesus.
The verse following the previous quote also is true for all of us. “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1 Peter 2.10) I love how the word “now” appears twice in this verse. The more consistently I am conscious of the constant grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus, the more free I am to truly enjoy life – no matter what it brings … This is my major reflection for today.
Tim Keller puts it this way: “If you live a long life, it will tear you up to see the people who matter most to you put into the ground one by one. If your greatest source of contentment and love is your family, that will be intolerable. But if you learn to love God even more than them, your greatest source of consolation, hope, joy, and value will not be diminished by grief. Indeed, the sorrow will drive you to drink deeper from it. You will not find yourself empty, and you won’t always be hardening your heart in order to deal with how your losses tear you up. The love of God can never be taken from you, and in his love, the Bible says, you live with loved ones forever. … Here, then, is the message. Don’t love anything less; instead learn to love God more, and you will love other things with far more satisfaction. You won’t overprotect them, you won’t over expect things from them. You won’t be constantly furious with them for not being what you hoped. Don’t stifle passionate love for anything; rather, redirect you greatest love toward God by loving him with your whole heart and loving him for himself, not just for what he can give you. Then, and only then, does the contentment start to come.
“That is the Christian view of satisfaction. It avoids the pitfalls of both the ancient strategy of tranquility through detachment and the modern strategy of happiness through acquisition. It both explains and resolves the deep conundrum of our seemingly irremediable discontent.” (Making Sense of God, pp. 93-94)
I think I might have more to say on this down the road. However, for today, just one more verse for reflection up God’s “now” in our lives. “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is (his) faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3.22-23)
Reflections
By
/ 