I Remember...

Forgive me for feeling incredibly old, but I remember a day when it was unheard of for schools to schedule anything on Sunday.  It wasn't too long ago that Sunday was kept clear on the calendars.  But those days are apparently in the past - and even out of most of our memories.

Our boys love Baseball, as you know if you have frequented this blog much at all, especially in the spring and early summer!  We enjoy watching them and although I am a bit biased, they are good!

However, Baseball and Sunday don't mix in our house!  Our rule is that we don't play organized sports or competitively on Sunday.

Yesterday the boys competed in the first All-Star Tournament and although I stayed home (out of the heat) with Maddie, I'm told they did really well.  Their team lost the first game, which was the first that some of those boys had lost all season, including my two - but they came back and fought and really played well in the second - and won!  Next game...this morning (SUNDAY) at 10am!

For obvious reasons, our boys won't be there.  The team will actually play multiple games today, but we won't be playing. 

Several parents offered to pick up our boys and take them to the games, but it's not just that Ron's job keeps us from getting there for a 10am game, there is more to it.

Sunday's are suppose to be set apart, different - not look the same as Monday through Saturday.  Yet in our world today, Sunday is another day to cram in whatever we didn't get accomplished throughout the week.  What happened to the days of old?  Why have we gotten away from clear calendars on Sundays?

It all honesty it would be easy to say, "could you take our boys to the first game and we'll meet up with you there?"  Or even, "we can't make the first one, but we'll be there for the second".  It would be easy and honestly our team of 12 needs their starting Shortstop and 3rd basemen.  It makes sense that they need to be there.

Yet it is Sunday!  Easy isn't always best.  Making sense to the world isn't what we strive for.

My boys handle it pretty well actually.  Yes, they would like to play, but they also don't understand why people would schedule during church, me either! 

We still love sports, we still enjoy baseball, but we also serve a God who is bigger than any sport or any game.  We serve a God who desires to be "important" in our lives.  A God who desires to have just ONE day that is set apart and different.

It is hard to be in this world and not of it, and yet we strive to teach our boys that the #1 thing in our lives is our relationship with Jesus! 

I am sure they will think about their teammates today and perhaps even wish they could help them out, but our desire is that years down the road (or maybe even today) they can look back and be thankful that they didn't compromise their time with Jesus for an All-Star baseball tournament!

So today we trade in our cleats, bats and gloves and grab our Bibles!  Today we spend time in the Lord's house!  Today we set apart as different from the rest of the week.  No -we may not be understood and we may not be respected, but today we teach all 4 of our children the importance of families going to Church together and spending Sunday like those of old did - Together and with Jesus!