I am a little league baseball umpire, one of those in-charge guys dressed in blue who calls balls and strikes. (By the way, I will attest that it's kind of a tough go to have to wear long pants, polyester, extra pads, and a helmet for 115 degrees heat index games... and then often get yelled at by both sides of fans and coaches.)

Oh, and our son JoJo also started swingin' the bat this spring by playing some tee-ball, with some oh-so-serious skills!

Something happened at a game I was umpiring last week that I thought was very cool. This kid was up to bat, and with only 2 strikes, he hung his head and started to walk back to his dugout thinking he had struck out! His manager said to him, "Billy, it's only 1 and 2, you're still batting! Let the umpire to his job, and you do yours." I just smiled. Then Billy did something that was pretty great... He drove the next pitch off the sweet spot of his bat into left-center field for a double!

Everyone cheered as Billy stopped at 2nd base, with a big grin... a smile that I could see all the way from home plate. Maybe the life-lesson is clear, that thankfully our God graciously offers us 2nd chances when we feel like failures.

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. Philippians 1:6 (NLT)