Cooperstown
by Laurence Windham

It was the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded. With two outs on the board and two strikes against him, no home field advantage and before a hostile crowd the Mighty Martin, after spending the whole night with his Coach, managed to knock the papists last "pitch" out of the park, winning the game for the Saints and securing for himself a place in history.

The church's Cooperstown is full of those great players that God has drafted and signed over the years. There have been some great pitchers like Aquinas, Augustine and Pascal who have confounded the enemy's line-up with the combination of apologetic curve balls, sliders and fast balls, such that the opposing team revealed how they didn't even belong in the same league. There have been those whose batting record has remained phenomenal. I'm thinking of the great Spurgeon, Edwards, and Owen the Puritan. The outfield has had its own color with Livingstone and Judson and Carey to name just a few. The martyrs who have shortstopped include Brainerd, Hus, Elliot and countless others who didn't play long but played well.

Then there are those who have redefined the game by protecting it's image and rules, like Calvin, Knox and Schaeffer. These Hall of Famers who have gone before us have shaped our history, and inspired our hearts. Their sacrifices, exploits, and accomplishments stand as monuments to what God can do with persons willing to practice, workout, and with joyful abandon, follow sound coaching.

The awesome part of this is that we are all on the same team. Those who have gone on before us may have left the field but their influence remains as inspiration for each new rookie. Their records and stats have been such that they have carried the team and inspired every generation that has suited up. They have played their positions so well that they have set standards for all of us to follow, careful always to acknowledge that they were simply doing what the Coach had told them to do, in every situation. Our lives are richer because of their performance on the field. This is a good thing, this being the intention of The General Manager. Even that great pioneer who was commissioned to expand the league, Paul of Athens, emphasized this truth by saying so. We are inspired by their devotion to the game, their love of the rules and the performances they provided. By emulating their style, their stance, their strategy, we improve our game. The competition is intramural; therefore any rivalry and striving among us should always be for the sharpening of our game for the betterment of the team.

One of the early historians of the game recorded the first great players. There was a guy named Samson that was especially good with a stick. An older player named Moses who was instrumental in moving the game to a much better park. Then there was Abraham who was the first player to be drafted. There was Noah, who carried the team during that long season that was finally rained out. There was the swaggering, comic Jacob, whom many of us would have cut from the team, and yet through careful coaching, finally reached his potential. Finally, the most colorful of the early players, David. Brought up from the farm team, he seemed to strike out as much as he hit. And yet, his overall record still is an encouragement to us all. The General Manager Himself inscribed the words that basically read, "He's got game."

Our history is good for us. Heroes are good for us. We find in them the traits of personality and weakness that we all can identify with. We know that the strength and power that they wielded was not their own and because of that we know that that same grace is available to us. Their struggles and failures console us. The victories they enjoyed spur us on. The fact that God used some of the more docile, weird and marred ones helps us to remember that it is not the player but the Coach that makes the difference. As we read of the training that they endured to play their best, of the sacrifices that they made to win the game, we rally ourselves to stay focused, to play better. That is why we have several Halls of Fame recorded in the Scriptures. This was the design of God that those who died in the past still speak now and will continue to speak in the future. Our history has already recorded every trial and tribulation Christians will ever be called to endure. We can read this with resolution, that if found in the same situation we would respond as expected by a child of God.

Christian history also reveals what missionary efforts were successful and how those early pioneers of evangelism prepared themselves as well as penetrated the pagan cultures they were called to. This is vital information for the present church. In fact, there are plenty of scenarios from the past that provide instruction for every future possibility. Our forefathers, as dictated by the situation, have done everything from operating underground printing presses, to hiding refugees, to facing hostile tribes, to rescuing infants, to excommunicating royalty to forming barricades for a final stand. As dictated by the situation they have, along with their Bible, used shovel or pen or plow or wealth or rifle to get the job done. To not know of those who have gone before us, the sacrifices they have made and the dilemmas that they faced leaves us ill prepared for the future- perhaps the near future, when lines may have to be quickly drawn and sides taken. We now are the boys of summer. This is our season. As we take to the field, may history record that we played well. That we gave all.