Hello! I’m Bob Pettigrew from the Operations Department at Lord of Hosts Church. It’s an incredible honor to share a few words with you, our e-members. Thank you for taking a moment to be encouraged to NEVER GIVE UP!
For nearly 20 years, I had the privilege of coaching competitive baseball in Omaha, Nebraska for boys aged 9 through 14. My singular purpose of coaching was to give young players enough education, experience, and repetition to perfect their skills and learn how to NEVER GIVE UP. Winning or losing baseball games was simply a byproduct of taking the field and seeing players demonstrate their abilities as they improved and truly learned what it means to NEVER GIVE UP.
You see, to succeed in baseball, players and coaches must learn how to overcome personal failure, which is possible every time the ball is in play. You can’t just talk about overcoming, or get emotional about it, you must actually learn how to overcome personal failure. Baseball players sometimes strike out looking, which means they don’t swing at a pitch they could have hit for the third strike, so therefore they make an out. Players sometimes make fielding errors by not using proper footwork or mishandling their glove or making a poor throw. Base runners make mistakes by trying to advance when they shouldn’t, or not advancing when they should. Pitchers use poor mechanics and can’t throw strikes, and coaches call the wrong play. To win games and play baseball at a high level, players and coaches must learn to perfect their skills in all aspects of the game and NEVER GIVE UP when mistakes are made.
I firmly believe that being a Christian, and learning to walk in our calling, is the same as learning how to succeed in baseball. Every day we wake up is an opportunity to perfect our skills as servants of The Most High God. Following what Pastor Hank, our Coach, says, we need to draw closer to God and rebuke the enemy. Pastor Brenda, another Coach, recently encouraged us to stay in the race because victory is right around the corner if we don’t give up.
Drawing on my background as a baseball coach, I’ve disciplined myself to start each day by grabbing my Bible and reading scripture before my feet hit the floor, and I encourage you to do the same. This is how we renew our mind. As we get out of bed, we can pray in the Spirit to build spiritual strength. Throughout the day, we can acknowledge Him in all we do and pray without ceasing to build our stamina and rebuke the enemy. These are the things we can do to perfect our skills as a Christian. Mistakes may still happen and when they do, repent, thank Jesus for His precious Blood, and ask the Lord for the ability to overcome.
As the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 1:6 (AMP): “I am convinced and confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will [continue to] perfect and complete it until the day of Christ Jesus [the time of His return].”
NEVER GIVE UP!