FORGET "THE OLD BALL GAMES!"

By Gerald E. Cumby In most of the major league ball parks today in between innings, the song, "Take me out to the ball game" will be sung by the fans. It is a tradition and a major hit with the fans, both old and young...and all the in between.

As I was reading the lyrics of the song the other day, I was reminded of the last sentence of the chorus: "At the old ball game."



Well...I want every production manager of the sports television stations (ESPN, Fox Sports, and local) to listen to my plea...please don't show another "Old ball game." In this time of pandemic and worldwide infection crisis, while we are already shut down, shut up, and shielded from the outside world of sports, don't bore me with "OLD BALL GAMES!! I WANT TO SEE THE REAL STUFF... IN REAL TIME!

I am just a red-blooded American male. As a senior, we are listening to our family's cry of "granddad and grand mom...don't get out of the house and contract this dreaded disease. Stay home and hunker down in your easy chair, get comfortable for the next few years while you are still alive." So...with this only alternative available to keep peace in the family, we have had the excuse of not going to funerals, to birthday parties, to visit good friends in the hospital, to volunteer for Meals on Wheels, to help with Child Evangelism Fellowship, to teach a class at church, to play cards, dominoes, and eat Fannie Mae's banana pudding at the monthly senior luncheon...and not to show our old, decrepit, worn-out bodies in the church services. The younger family members (not all) continue to say, "Watch your church service on television, eat your meal alone with your beautiful, good looking spouse (eyes weakened with old age) and enjoy life with what time you have left on planet earth." Good grief, give me a break!

So...we hit pause on our lives and say "Wait until it is over!" I am beginning to think it will truly be over for all of us over 75. Just walking down the aisles at Wal-Mart I feel like I need to wear a sign on my forehead, "Unclean... Unclean!" I don't have leprosy, nor boils and sores all over my body (maybe some old age spots and bruises). I wear clean shirts and blue jeans. I might look like warmed-over death...but, I am not "unclean!"

Hey guys, just give me some air, some popcorn in my hands, a bottle of coke held between my legs and let me see a REAL TIME BALL GAME! If I have to see it breathing through a stinking mask, so be it! If I have to wash my hands until my freckles and warts are worn off, so be it! If I have to use sanitizer on my hands before I pick up a bottle of mustard to pour on my hotdog, so be it! If the only one I kiss is my wife of 59 years when a home run by our home team is observed, so be it! Incidentally, my wife is the prettiest; the most beautiful person in the stands anyway...so any affection you see from my two seats is genuinely timely and exciting!

What am I trying to say? Watching ball games played last year or 15 years ago is about as interesting as watching them change a flat at the local filling station. Therefore...PLEASE! LET'S PLAY BALL!

Now...You are asking, "Gerald, what kind of devotion can you make out of this opening monologue (tirade) on the COVID-19 Project, devastating pandemic of pandemics, and the shutting down of America!

Well...here goes!

What is our duty as a Christian in dealing with this "invisible enemy" called COVID-19?

1. Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's!

Our government is certainly not God; although they might think they are His worker bees and God's gift to humanity. However, to be a good example for others who are watching every move we, as believers, make, do what is expected of you by our governing officials. If the order is not against the Word of God, then be doing your best to set the example for your family and others. On the other hand, since the government is not God, be careful in discerning the demands made by our governing officials. The government or governing officials telling the Church to not sing or not to hold services at all goes against God's standards of worship and religious liberties...not only in our country's Constitution (Bill of Rights), but also in the Word of God (specific days of the week to hold services and worship of the Creator as a congregation... assembling of ourselves as believers).

2. Remember…There is a time for everything!

Some verses in Ecclesiastes 3...Solomon states, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die...a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing... a time to search and a time to give up...a time to be silent and a time to speak. I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live."

We don't understand what is going on with this dreaded disease COVID-19. We are searching for answers...we are silent at times and there are times we must speak. However, God is still sovereign and He knows what He is doing. He never makes a mistake. He never lies. He is a good God who loves His children. This means that we as Christians need to hold our head up high and ask God to reveal to us what He wants us to do. I think we all know that His word is exceedingly good and is applicable at just the right times in our lives. 2 Chronicles 7:14 comes to mind when I ask God to give an answer in times like these. However, God has revealed to me that I need to read verse 13 with it to understand the reason for our need during these trying times. Therefore, I bow before my God and read, "When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, 14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

"My people"... That is me and you if you know Jesus as your Savior. The plague is among His people and if we who are called by His name, will do exactly what He says, humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways... then God will hear from the portals of heaven and forgive us again of our sin and then...will heal our land."

It is our fault! It is our fault...Church! Bow before the King and get right before Him and we will be rid of this "invisible enemy" that was enacted and wickedly planted by the greatest enemy of all, Satan himself. Come against this thief, this one who wants to destroy us! In the name of Jesus, "Get thee behind us Satan. You have no more authority over us."

3. We need to get the Umpire of Umpires to say, "PLAY BALL!"

God is the One who calls the balls and strikes. He is the one who calls the outs and when we are safe. He is the one to declare the winner of the ball game. What we have to understand is that in the game of life...Satan and his team have already been disqualified to win this game. The Umpire of Umpires has declared that this ball game has been forfeited in the end. We win...Satan loses! That is Scripture and that is the final score!