Pick me! Pick Me!

The movie The Sandlot is one of my all time favorites.  It's the story of a bunch of boys in the early sixties growing up in southern California suburbia who play baseball together at the local park called the sandlot.  It's about building lifelong friendship, love of the game, competition, bonding together and humorous adventure.  I highly recommend it to any of you regardless of age.  The movie is centered around a character named Scotty Smalls who moves to a new neighborhood with his mom and generally distant and aloof step dad who loves baseball and collects baseball memorabilia but won't take the time to teach his stepson Scotty how to play the game.  Scotty is befriended by Benny Rodriguez, the local boy wonder superstar player who takes him under his wing and soon the adventures begin.  But I am always taken back to a scene in the film where Scotty, just new to the neighborhood, wanders over to the baseball field and is watching the guys play when they realize they need another person to pick even teams.  They see him and call him over and the scene in which the two captains are picking the teams is priceless.  Here is the new kid Scotty, dorky hat, cheap glove and a total unknown.  Standing there sheepishly as he is passed up by one player after another who the captains know will give them the best chance to win.  Then when he is the last one left Benny has no choice but to pick him and see what he's got.  The mannerisms and looks on the kids faces as they waited to be picked brought me back instantly to my own childhood.  Nobody wants to either pick or be the last one picked.  It's like taking your sister to the prom, total shame and embarrassment!  What I loved most about the movie is the way Scotty eventually endeared himself to his friends and teammates, who ended up appreciating him for the person he would be, rather than judging him by his appearance or ability.  Relevant lessons which have stood the test of time but sadly and often tragically are not either taught or certainly utilized in today's your either in or out world.
   You see the biggest difference between us today and the generations that have passed is that we today often look at the outwardness of the person when making choices to use people based upon superficial desires for success and achievement.  God however always and I mean always, looks at the heart of an individual when making choices for the achieving of His desires and success for them.  He wisely knows that inward attributes forged in honesty, integrity and high moral ethical standards qualify better for lasting success than do physical appearance and raw talent.  It is the true heart of a man that ultimately determines his lasting success or failure and nothing, and I mean nothing else.  Look at all the train wrecks of lives around us of friends and family as well as those of celebrities, athletes, politicians, prominent business people, pastors and others who had it all.  They had either or all of the following, looks, money, success, power and fame.  All of them temporal satisfaction at best..  But some where along the journey they decided to stray from God's will and good intent for them and make their own choices in life.  They and they alone would decide who to surround themselves with or trust with their careers or livelihood.  I don't need God and His counsel or protection, I have me.  I will make my own choices thank you.   It is this theme of self serving piousness that has caused some of our greatest societal changes in America.  And none of them are good!  The bible repeatedly talks about man's battle of serving two masters.   God concludes righteously that we cannot serve Him and ourselves at the same time.  It is because our fallen human nature is in constant conflict with our divine eternal spiritual nature and design.  We get so caught up in the shameless pursuits of idols and possessions that we simply step on or over those that get in our way.  Many of us don't often realize it either.  In doing so we propagate a kill or be killed attitude and that is the real danger.  We use and discard almost everything in life today as if we can can just go get another when it suits us or we need it to serve us.  This unfortunately includes other human beings and that is where we are at.   We have relegated the highest gift of all, our precious lives to a trash heap.  Whether it is the tsunami of abortion, ethnic or religious cleansing, euthanasia or the general indifference to the suffering in the human condition it is a death sentence for us all.  In a systematic removing of God and His will for our lives we have chosen the fallen sinful nature of our carnality to serve.  No longer do we look at the heart of the man next to us.  We simply determine their fate by if they are of use to us or will hinder or help our lifestyle or society.  Harsh words for sure but sadly true.  The boy that nobody wants on their team or in their lives is God nowadays.  The bible is full of unlikely outcasts like Gideon, Joseph, Jonah, David, Esther, Ruth, Moses, Paul and many others.  Many of whom simply weren't chosen or considered to be worthy by men, but were by God.  He found a place of importance for these common people and has much more so planned for you and I too.  Don't let the world determine the choices you make on it's value system.  It's like passing up the new kid on the block with the dorky hat, goofy shoes and funny name.   That kid who you and nobody else found value in but God now owns the park and the team and you're the one left saying "Pick me! Pick me!"

Luke 16:13
 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.