Eddie Laney was a New Mexico cowboy evenings and weekends, and a heavy equipment operator by day, and he was good at what he did. Be he had never played baseball.
One summer the Silver City Baseball League had 500 boys to sign up to play ball, but there were hardly any coaches. So, Eddie, being the tender hearted man that he was, volunteered to be a coach. “I ain’t never played baseball in my life,” he admitted, “but if you’ll give me the rule book I’ll learn. So they did.
Eddie studied that rule book from cover to cover and from the inside out, and became a super coach. Because of his love for children and his willingness to learn, a dozen more boys spent the summer playing baseball instead of running loose on the streets, perhaps getting into trouble.
Beloved, a coach is similar to a teacher--one who knows the rules, puts them into practice and encourages the players to follow their example, and our Christian walk is much like playing a baseball game.
Now, how many babies do you know who have been born into God’s Kingdom and want to play the game but have no one to teach them? The young ones need a coach, and it’s our duty to fill that position.
“But I don’t know how to coach,” some of you will lament. But we all can learn. Just like Eddie Laney, we need to read the Rule Book…from cover to cover and inside out, and put it into practice. Then, because of our love for new believers, and willingness to be a coach, many will spend their lives serving the Lord (playing the game) instead of falling back into the clutches of the devil.
“Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching (coaching )and admonishing one another.” Colossians 3:16
“And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach (coach) others also.” 2 Timothy 2:2 (Italics mine.)
--Rebecca Somoskey
