An old rescued post from nineteensix

Tonight I played Dodgeball with workmates for a company 'bonding' exercise... It was fun, everyone lined up, jumping, dodging, balling, and laughing. I'd never played before, so I thought I'd better just sit back, get a feel for it, and go for the basics - dodging, catching and throwing. It wasn't long before our team (including the store manager) was on a streak, winning 3 games straight. In those three games, I was the last man standing in our team, and managed to win numerous 1 on 1 situations... Pretty soon the manager was calling our team 'Will's wonderboys'.

Then it all went wrong. The other teams began to target me, and I got cocky. I wasn't focusing on basics, I was going for glory. No more small game, I was THE 'Wonderboy'. Tunnel vision, fatigue and lack of focus took over. How like Christian life, we start out full of enthusiasm, and focus on the basics of the small game, and God blesses us for it. But then success comes along, and "Its All me Baby". So, My three lessons of Dodgeball Christianity.

1) I was so focused on MY game, that I was unaware of THE game. I kept getting hit. 1 Corinthians 12 "For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body..." In Christian life we can be so focused on our own little service or life, and isolate something that is meant to be part of a whole... we think 'I am the Eye - I will show them the way'. Then without the ear we don't hear something, and we miss Gods call, get hit with a ball, or get mashed in the eye with a toe...

2) My arm got tired, and I focused on power rather than accuracy, missing everything and giving easy catches. I was relentless, running, ducking, moving... I didn't even THINK about slowing down... Isaiah 40:31"But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint." We need to take breaks. We need to spend some time out from the game of life, rest, refuel and recharge. It stops you from burning out, and in the end that helps the team.

3) I was thinking too far ahead, about the next throw, my next target, my next moment of glory, so I kept dropping the easy percentage balls that came straight into my hand. James 4:13-14 "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit' yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring..." I needed to bring my focus back to the now and not the then. I was too obsessed with the ideal of glory, that I forgot the basics of dodging, catching and watching. Less 'One day!" and more "today!!".

Sometimes life throws a ball at us, sometimes a wrench. If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.