The Red Sox won the World Series. I still wish things would have worked out differently and the Cubs could have made it further in the playoffs but I am happy for my Red Sox fan friends and sad for my Dodger fan friends. The Cubs made it to the dreaded 1 game playoff against the Rockies and they lost an exciting 13 inning Wild Card elimination game. I was sad they lost and I was irritated that they couldn’t score runs, Kyle Schwarber wasn’t used in the right pinch-hitting spot, and the season’s last inning included an at bat from career .063 hitter, Terrance Gore*.
*(Baseball rabbit trail: Gore’s career is actually pretty fascinating. He only has ONE Major League hit and only ONE Major League walk BUT has stolen 27 bases and scored 19 runs in his career! Try and figure that one out!)
But, despite the lack of runs and an early exit from the playoffs, the loss really didn’t bother me because the Cubs had won the World Series just a couple of years ago. As corny as that sounds, that World Series victory changed what being a fan means to me. Instead of pulling for the team to do something that hasn’t been done in 108 years, I can enjoy watching the team during this special time in the team’s history. If they hadn’t won it all in 2016, I would be sad and bitter at the fact that we would have to “Wait ‘til next year!” again!
When we make a decision to follow Jesus, we are making a decision to change as well. The Cubs illustration is pretty silly, but I’m not the same baseball fan that I was several years ago.
The Gospel changes people. Sure, people might sin less and be better people, but the message is so much deeper than that. John 3 tells us that we need to be born again. 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us that if we are a follower of Christ, we are a new creature. This is such an exciting message to take to men in prison. Every day they are reminded of the consequences of their sin. Taking the message that Jesus died and took the eternal punishment of their sin is a powerful thing for these men.
Last month wrapped up my seventh year of volunteering with the Saints Prison Ministry. The Saints have been faithfully taking this message to prison for the past 31 years. Each season is special, and our visit to Robinson CC last month was special as well!
We met at 4:25 am. This is an absurd time to do anything but, in order to be on the field at 8:30 am at Robinson CC, this is what we had to do. I really appreciated the “whatever it takes” mentality that this team showed at Robinson and have showed all season long. After we prayed for the day, we loaded up and headed Southeast towards the small town of Robinson, IL.
Once we arrived, we greeted the men on the field and started the first game. Sometimes after a long drive, we don’t get off the bus swinging the bat very well but we won game 1 fairly easily. In between games, Jon Isbell shared his testimony of how he came to know Jesus. After Jon spoke, Robert Cook shared the Gospel. After our speaking time, we played and won another shortened game.
After we wrapped up the 2nd game, we only had about 60 minutes to eat in downtown Robinson. Normally I don’t recommend eating KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) before or after any athletic event but using the KFC lunch buffet was the most time efficient. We enjoyed the buffet and enjoyed the fellowship of our last Saints lunch before the winter.
So a slow pitch softball team comprised of middle aged men who just ate several dozen pieces of chicken from an all you can eat buffet sounds like a recipe for disaster, right? We started game 3. After scoring 7 runs in the first inning of game 1, we went 1-2-3 in the top of the first inning of game 3. They answered by scoring 8 in the bottom of the first. So our team, going on way less than the recommended amount of sleep and full of chicken and potatoes, had to dig down deep. We finally broke out and had an 8 run inning. Both teams kept slugging it out and we actually had tied the game in the 5th! In the top of the 6th, we scored 5 runs and we held on to win the game!
After the game, rookie missionary athlete, Chris Onken shared his life story of how Jesus has impacted his life. Josh Frederick shared the Gospel with them.
We played and won game 4. After the last game, we circled up with the men one last time and prayed with the men.
Overall on the day we handed out 211 Gospels of John and saw 31 men indicate that they followed Jesus.
On the way home we stopped and had one final team dinner together at the Champaign Buffalo Wild Wings. We talked about stuff such as college football, what is going on at our local churches, and the challenges of raising teenage girls vs teenage boys. I am looking forward to a break from the grind of the prison visits but I will really miss those conversations with my teammates this winter.
This season was fun and challenging at the same time, but God did some incredible things. Overall in 2018 we visited 7 different Illinois facilities and our team went 17-8. That isn’t a very important number, but it is nice to be competitive and put a good product on the field so that we get the attention of the yard that we are in. We handed out 837 Gospels of John and had 121 men indicate that they followed Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
Thank you to everyone who has supported The Saints Prison Ministry this year! I really have appreciated the prayer and financial support that you have blessed us with. I also appreciate all of the encouraging words throughout the year and I am looking forward to the 2019 season!
