Fight with a Texas Ranger

E p h e s i a n s 5 : 1 6 

Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. (NLT)

Nolan Ryan has to be my favorite baseball player of all time. He was a pitcher in the big leagues for twenty-seven years, playing the majority of those years with the Texas Rangers. He accrued 5,714 strikeouts, pitched seven no-hitters, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999. While it sounds like I’m a baseball fanatic, I’m not. The real reason I like Ryan is because he’s a cattle rancher. He’s been quoted saying, “Baseball allowed me to pursue my passion for ranching.” And at the height of his cattle operation, he ran over 2,000 head.

Well, living in Oklahoma, if we wanted to watch an MLB game, we had to drive to Arlington, Texas to watch the Texas Rangers. We did this a lot over the years, but when it comes to Texas Rangers games there is one I’ll never forget. It was the summer after my senior year of high school, and I’d been invited to tag along on a vacation to Texas with some friends of mine. I remember it like it was yesterday. While there, we were deciding what we wanted to do one night: go to a Texas Rangers baseball game or just go to eat and hang at the hotel. Well, unfortunately we decided not to go to the Rangers game that night. I say “unfortunately” because, in the game that very night, Robin Ventura stormed the mound in an attempt to kick Ryan’s a** after being drilled in the back by a pitch from Ryan. When Ventura got there, he was put in a headlock, where he received a face full of knuckle sandwiches from Ryan. I’ll never forget seeing the replay of the fight and the pictures of Ryan back on the mound after the fight, with blood on his jersey. It was awesome! And I missed it!

Ever since that night, I’ve struggled with what the cool kids call FOMO. What’s FOMO? It’s the FearOf Missing Out. I hate it that I missed such a legendary moment, and to this day I don’t want to miss another one like it. When it comes to serving the Lord, I think a healthy dose of FOMO is a good thing. I say this because I feel like so many of us have become numb to the adventure and excitement of serving the Lord. We’ve become all too comfortable just going through the motions. Going from one Sunday to the next and calling it the Christian life while missing out on the supernatural experiences God wants us to have every day. I mean, where else can you have a front row seat to see someone change his or her destiny from hell to heaven by trusting in Jesus. Or maybe it’s seeing a maverick teenager come back home because you chose to reach out to them. Maybe it’s seeing a prayer answered when a friend of yours gets pregnant after the doctors said it was impossible! Or maybe it’s rejoicing when one of your friends who was living a destructive lifestyle repents and turns back to Jesus. This is what life is all about, and we should desire to be present for every minute of it.

What I believe God wants for us is eyes to see the world the way He sees the world: in desperate need of a Savior. I believe that God wants us to take advantage of the opportunities that are right in front of us every day. There is always something exciting that God wants you to do. The question is: are you willing to do it? Are you prayed up and ready? Or are you settling for just sitting in the stands? It’s time! It’s time to step up onto the mound and take on our opponent, to fight for the souls of our friends, and to enjoy this exciting life we’re called to live!

C H E W O N T H I S 

What opportunities do you see right in front of you that God wants you to be a part of? When was the last time you saw God do a miracle in your life or someone else’s because you took it upon yourself to do something? Where do you see God working right now and how can you join in the exciting things He’s doing?

P R A Y E R 

Jesus, I don’t want to miss out on anything you have in store for me. Help me to see the world as you see it, and to not be afraid to dive in and get my hands dirty serving you. Thank you for this amazing opportunity to see lives changed for eternity.