Great bunt!

I saw something at a baseball game today I've never seen before. (Yes, my wonderful job scores high marks for giving us a baseball outing ;) ).

We're all familiar with the post-home run trek by the team to meet the hero - high fives all the way around. In fact, in our culture it's probably a picture that needs no caption; we just assume that's what happened, and move on to the next success story.

But today, our home team showed me something different. Yes, they congratulated the home run-hitting hero, but a few plays later jaunted out to meet another player -- one who had just made a successful sacrifice bunt, getting out at first but advancing the runner into scoring position. I watched in amazement as I realized that had I seen a picture, I would have assumed that he was being congratulated for a home run - the greeting equalled that of the earlier player who had hit it over the fence.

As I watched, I thought of two kingdom workers. One, "Sam", was released this week from jail in South Asia after many believers turned out to protest. He had been jailed for sharing truth, and upon release was merely told not to "cause any more trouble". It was a home run, and cheers and high fives were certainly called for. The second, Cyd Mizell, was murdered almost two months ago in Central Asia. Our prayers and pleas turned out differently than we expected. Yet as Tertullian said, "The blood of martyrs is the seed of the church." And so Cyd gave up a sacrifice bunt, advancing the cause of Christ in ways we might not understand until heaven. But many of us have struggled to accept that this, too, is part of the victorious Christian life.

In the convicting book Cat & Dog Theology, Bob Sjogren & Geral Robinson call this "winner's circle theology". It's what makes us identify with Moses rather than the Israelite serving as a slave in the middle of the 400 years in Egypt. It's what causes us to love the story of Daniel in the lion's den, and skim over the prophets who were killed. And it's also what often causes us to stumble when we feel our work is in vain.

The fact is, we're all on the same team for the kingdom. We have different roles to play, and sometimes we might not understand how it fits into the big picture. Some kingdom workers have found themselves "unsuccessful" in numbers, but translated massive amounts of scripture for the next generation to utilize. Others have found resistance and met it on their knees, opening doors in the heavenlies that they were never priviliged to walk through. More than one has found themselves in an unchosen location because of political circumstances, wondering what to do next. I submit to you that all of these were used by God to give a sacrifical bunt, advancing the kingdom in a way equally victorious to the home run of the evangelist that came along later.

You may even be facing your own trial of "success". You may be wondering how your recently defunct Bible study fits in. You may dread that next newsletter, because all you can say is how hard you're praying for open doors, and your supporters want to see some answers. You may wonder if numbers are truly insignificant, since that is what you're always asked to share.

If so, please hear my heart on this: On behalf of the body of Christ, I give you a high five. I'm meeting you on your way back to the dugout to tell you what you desperately need to hear tonight:

Great bunt.