Winning
Got a beat-up glove, a homemade bat,
And a brand-new pair of shoes.
You know I think it’s time to give this game a ride
Just to hit the ball, and touch ‘em all
A moment in the sun.
It’s a-gone and you can tell that one goodbye.
Put me in coach, I’m ready to play today.
Put me in coach, I’m ready to play today.
Look at me, I can be centerfield.
Centerfield - John Fogerty (1985)
…..
I have attended seminars and lectures of various sorts for decades. I believe in lifelong learning for many reasons and as I approach age 68, I still have much I can learn. Since college, most of this learning has come from my professional associations, investments, CPA education and such. Of late, however, I have gotten more out of church sermons than almost anywhere else.
The Captivating Mrs. Campbell and I attend four different churches regularly. Two are the churches our sons and their families attend in California. One is our church in Scottsdale, Arizona. But we also attend a small church in the little town of Cottonwood Falls, Kansas which is where I am now as I write this missive. The Fire on the Prairie H2O church is too small, as are many rural churches, to have a great preacher in-house. Everything except the sermon is live and local but the sermon is brought in on TVs via the internet. This way, they can have some of the best preachers on earth every Sunday. Pretty good idea.
This past Sunday’s sermon was delivered online by Craig Groeschel, the pastor at the Life Church in Oklahoma City, although the church now has over 20 locations. It was Father’s Day. Pastor Craig had lost his baseball-obsessed father in the last year. The sermon was about “Four Lessons to Winning at Life from my Baseball Dad.” Those four lessons are:
You can’t win with a bad attitude.
You don’t win without sacrifices. Sometimes you have to lay down a sacrifice bunt and be tagged out in order to move the runners.
No grass stains, no glory. No bruises, no story.
It ain’t over ‘til it’s over. (Courtesy of Yogi Berra)
If you are interested in watching the entertaining sermon you can find it here http://www.h2ochurch.tv/Media.
So, why am I telling you about this in a political/economic/cultural blog?
We are all in the middle of a fight right now. It is a fight for the soul of America. It is also a fight for Judeo/Christian culture and enduring values. It is a fight for common sense and reason. It is a fight for economic success and security. And it is a fight for both God and science. No, the two are not mutually exclusive.
Every day around us we see injustice as the Clintons’ and Bidens’ corruption goes unpunished and not even reported, but a hero on a subway is charged with a crime. We see profligate spending and borrowing rewarded while savers are punished. We see “pump and dumps” on Wall Street where executives reap huge profits in money losing companies leaving investors and employees holding the bag. We see the President of the United States say he has never seen anyone more courageous than a man who had artificial breasts installed, while nearby real courage lying in Arlington National Cemetery is unrecognized except in a disingenuous campaign stop.
It can get you down. It does me.
So, this past Sunday, Pastor Craig’s words from his father resonated with me relative to this fight we are in. We need to win this game. And we can’t win with a bad attitude. We can’t think the other team is better or stronger if we want to win. We are better and stronger. We can win. We will win.
We may have to give up some things (sacrifice) to win. Something as small as patronizing a woke company whose products we like to writing checks and volunteering time. We will get “grass stains and bruises” along the way as we “slide under the tag” while getting to third base.
And the fight ain’t even close to being over. I don’t know what inning we are in, but it is not the 9th inning. I don’t even think the fight is over in places like San Francisco or Chicago. People living in those places are starting to see that the crap they have supported for decades is failing. It’s pretty hard not to notice that failure. Those places are still going downhill but there are innings yet to be played. Leftists are famously hypocritical. They vote to make you suffer from their policies. But when those policies come to their doorstep, they see them differently.
Many of you e-mail me and ask what “little old” you can do. Continuing with the baseball analogy, first, put on the uniform and join the team. Next, give yourself that winning attitude. Your team is going to win because you are better and will play harder and will sacrifice and get that uniform dirty.
Then, recognize that no one player wins a baseball game. It takes all nine. When you are at the plate, you may not win the game with that at-bat. You probably won’t. But, if you don’t try your hardest and maybe get a walk or a hit or maybe get on base by “taking one for the team,” we can’t win. We all have to play our part, no matter how small. You may think that you can’t change the direction of the country just by swaying one person’s mind or pulling away from your woke Alma Mater or raising you children with traditional values. That’s true. But all of us doing that together as a team can win the game and win back the country. I put a lot into this blog. It gets read by some, but not nearly as many as I might like. So why do I do it? I am doing something and every contribution by every one of us will add up to the team winning.
And while the game is still playing, keep yourself and your family practicing the enduring values we know work. You can keep away from the genital mutilating crowd and ignore them. You can keep yourself fiscally responsible even if the government doesn’t. You can stay away from the products and propaganda of countries who want to destroy us. You can be polite and courteous and generous and grateful, even when some around you are not.
Don’t let the other team’s heckling get into your head. Take energy when the crowd (media) boos you at the plate.
Pastor Craig finishes with stories about his dad talking to the team in the late innings when they were behind. It’s rally time! He would say.
Well. Put me in coach. It’s rally time!
I remain respectfully,
Congressman John Campbell
Drive Fast & Live Free