This is a great time of the year if you are a fan of amateur baseball. Here in Georgia we have just wrapped up the High School State Championships and the Dawgs and Jackets are playing in the NCAA Regionals. As I watch these games and series unfold, I always see the very simple things that seem to be the downfall of a team's season. Things like baserunning and advancing runners on offense or first pitch strikes and hitting the cutoff man on defense. As a coach, it is a slow death as we watch our teams make these simple yet destructive mistakes. Ultimately it falls on us to have our teams prepared for that exact moment in the season.
One of my favorite verses in the Bible talks of preparedness. Ephesians 2:10 states, "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
God has made each one of us with certain gifts and talents. It is up to us to take those talents and hone them to be used in the proper manner. God prepares us and we have to execute. It is that simple. It is a shame to see Christians wasting their God given talent and not executing the game plan that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has assigned us. This is where the disciplines of prayer, Bible study, meditation, silence and solitude come into play. The disciplined Christian will execute when the game is on the line because they have been prepared by the coach AND they have taken on the responsibility to practice extra and discipline themselves. It is a beautiful thing to behold.
Similarly, it is readily apparent when a team is not adequately prepared when the season is on the line. Mental errors, baserunning blunders, poor decisions all harken back to lack of preparedness. It is a miserable feeling to lose a game or have your season end because you did not take the time to properly prepare in the preseason. As a coach, your season flashes before your eyes when a rundown is botched or a bunt coverage is blown and in your heart you know that the athletes cannot be blamed because you did not adequately prepare them. OUCH! Every minute spent on a baseball field is precious. Make them count in preparing your team for crunch time.
Watch the the next college game as this postseason unfolds and see if you do not recognize the signs of unpreparedness. Learn a lesson the easy way and make sure that you are prepared on the field and off the field. Be a prepared Christian and coach/player.
