Baseball

 The American pastime used to be the nickname for baseball. These days there are so many different sports options that I don't think baseball is still the revered sport. 

Whatever the case, the objective in baseball is to hit the ball, run the bases and cross home plate to score a run. Unless you are on defense. Then your goal is to keep the other team from scoring runs. 

Abner Doubleday created the game way back, never. Look it up. Doubleday was a decorated Civil War hero who fired the first shot at the Battle of Fort Sumter and was crucial at Gettysburg. However, he never mentioned his role as creator of baseball. Are you surprised? I was too. 

So, what is the connection between baseball and Doubleday? There are two that I see. Most of us have believed a myth about baseball's creator and didn't even know it. Whether we thought it important or not, we were told that old Abner gave us America's pastime, when in fact he didn't. 

The other connection is that baseball is a beloved sport. Now, granted it is fairly well attended through its seemingly eternal summer season. I am not counting the following that they have during spring training. However, if college football had as long a season as baseball does, there would be no competition for belovedness. In one game at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor over 107,601 crazy fans pack out the place. Every week is a sell-out. So, the point is that baseball is not that beloved.

Much has changed in the past 182 years since the game was invented. Church back in the day was an essential part of society. These days not so much. It’s not that church is less critical. It’s just that we’ve believed a lie about it for so long that we have lost interest. Or that is what they want you to think. Don’t. It should be a lie for you. Don’t give up on church. It needs to be a natural refuge for you each time that the body of Christ gatherers in one place. Don't let the stats mislead you to believe a myth. The gates of hell won’t prevail against Christ’s church.