Recently a group of us went to a Marlins game together.  I had gotten a call from their marketing people saying that they had a “faith and family” night, and so a group of us braved the traffic to downtown Miami during rush hour (not the textbook time to drive to Miami), and ate Casola’s pizza (a sort of historical pizza place in Miami, and a favorite for working guys; it’s always packed at lunch time).  Anyway, we had a great time.  And the Marlins won!  If we were good luck charms, they should have invited us way earlier!

I read something yesterday that blew my mind.  Not about our church and not about the Marlins, but about professional baseball.  While watching the game last week, Janice and I had wondered about how they could get the close-up cameras onto the field like they do in football.  We couldn’t figure it out.  But it turns out others have been working on alternatives.

A couple of weeks ago now, a guy by the name of Kiké Hernández made an error at third base.  A ball came to him, it hit his bare hand, he flubbed it a little, eventually grabbing it and threw the ball to first base, but too late to get the runner out.

You know WHY he messed up?  He was being interviewed for a radio show!  On the field!  While he was playing.  And the league?  They are the ones promoting it!  To the tune of $10k for regular games, and $15 large for post-season games!  Have you counted the exclamation points here!?  What could go wrong with that?  For instance, it’s the fourth game of the World Series, there’s a full count, bottom of the ninth, the pitcher is aiming the ball in his head, mindful of the 15 second clock winding down on the side, when through his earphone he hears Gomer Pyle asking him “how ya feelin’?’  Oh wait, that’s what happened to ol’ Kiké.  He was on the phone when the ball came his way!  Who could possibly think you will get the best performance from an athlete while they are involved in a conversation with somebody elsewhere?  How about this example. Tiger Woods is about to tee off, the crowd is hushed, the announcers are whispering little nothings, and over Tiger’s headphones someone asks “how’s your love life?”  What could go wrong with that?!

We live with a lot of distractions.  It’s against the law to drive distracted, but distractions bombard us whether we are driving, working, studying, or anything.  Those distractions affect our work and even our conversations.  If Janice had a dime for every time I have asked her to repeat her last sentence, she’d be a rich woman.  I create my own distractions, never mind putting another conversation in my earpiece.

I think we often talk to God distracted.  We only say short prayers because, if we elaborate with Him, we end up thinking about something else, and “Squirrel!” we’re off thinking about something else, and have to apologize to the Lord when we eventually come back.  We need to work at having less distractions, and hence focusing on what is before us.  All conversations are important, and whether with God or with other people, they deserve our full attention.  Just like the game deserves Kiké’s, or anybody else’s carrying on a conversation on the field for an extra $10,000.00.

I’m sorry, what was I saying…?

The Reverend Craig Nelson

All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.  Proverbs 14:23

Is it true that absence makes the heart grow fonder?  You’ve heard the expression many times I’m sure, maybe even used it when missing somebody, or realizing they’re not there.  As I write this, I am having such an experience, not with a person, but with a thing.

That thing is called A/C.  The A/C in our home died four days ago, right before the weekend—of course!  The technicians couldn’t get an order in soon enough, so we have been dealing with the heat here on 10^th Ave!  It really is OK, but I will tell you: not having A/C truly reminds me of the blessing, no, I’m going to call it necessity, of A/C.

Historians as well as myself could wax eloquent on the history of A/C to the direct correlation of the advent of A/C to the boom of Florida residents.  Of course lots of people lived here before A/C, but they were hardy people, pioneering-type people. The masses came once you could cool your personal space down.

So, obviously, people can live without A/C, but like any potent drug, once you have found relief in feeling it, you don’t want to go back.  And that’s where I sit today, waiting for the technicians to come with our new A/C like a puppy looks out the window waiting for the school bus in the afternoon.

I know that I will celebrate when they come. I will dance when it gets connected, and crank that thing down so low that Janice will be wearing a parka!  By this evening though, I will have forgotten all about it, carrying on as we normally do along with the rest of normal Floridians.  I will take it for granted just as I did back last Thursday before it died.  So did the A/C’s absence make my heart grow fonder of it?  Well, right now, sure.  By tonight… not so much. 

Now all of this has been about air conditioning, but it’s probably not what the saying refers to.  What about people?  Do their absences make our hearts grow fonder?  I don’t know.  Maybe it depends on what you mean by “fondness.”  I remember when Janice and I were engaged.  She lived in Texas and I lived in New York.  That was the time of the breakup of AT&T, and we benefited from a then-new long-distance company called Sprint.  We also benefited from an ill-fated airline called People Express.  We could tell you stories about that one!  We travelled as often as we could, as we missed each other, but I do think my heart grew fonder of her when I spent time with her.  The partings were harder and harder the more time we spent together, not the time we spent apart.

I think loving relationships grow as we spend time together.  What do they say – love is spelled T-I-M-E?  Relationships are built around experiences and conversations, not spending time apart.  And so it is also with our relationship with God.  Spending a month full of Sundays away from church will not grow us closer to the Lord.  A year without cracking a Bible will not make us better children of God.  Hanging out with non-Christians will not better Christians make.  So I guess it should say “presence makes the heart grow fonder.”  The more time we spend with God, the more our love for Him will grow.  I think that works in the spiritual world and in the physical world.

And yes, the longer I have lived with A/C, the more I miss it when it’s gone!

Looking forward to a cool house this evening,

Craig

And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds.  Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have made a habit, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.  Hebrews 10:24,25