Branch Rickey’s Original Plan for Integrating Baseball

Baseball historian John Thorn has written a fascinating article on a forgotten piece of baseball history—Branch Rickey’s master plan to integrate Major League Baseball.

Of course, we know the integration of MLB through the collaborative efforts of Rickey and Jackie Robinson was an unqualified success, but it didn’t go the way Rickey originally intended:

“…Rickey had never planned for one black man to deal with all the problems [of integrating the game] alone; he had meant to announce the simultaneous signing of several others.”

You can read the rest of Thorn’s article here.

Failure and Faithfulness

I had written a fairly lengthy post on the subject of failure and faithfulness, but then I deleted it because it didn’t accomplish my goal—I found it to be more discouraging than encouraging.

Here was the overall point of that post: I fail. A lot. With my family, in my personal life, and in my ministry—especially in my ministry (it was in my attempt to list some of those failures that the post quickly became discouraging!).

But while failures can be incredibly disappointing and can sometimes even paralyze us into inaction, ultimately, they aren’t that big of a deal.

I ran across a quotation a year or so ago that I really liked:

“God doesn’t call us to be successful; He calls us to be faithful.”

I don’t remember where I came across it originally, and a quick Google search didn’t reveal the author. Nevertheless, I think it’s a good message: over and over again in Scripture, God calls for faithfulness from His followers, but He doesn’t demand success.

For a Christian, husband, father, and minister who seems to spend a lot of his time failing, that’s a comforting thought—God cares more about my unrelenting, dogged pursuit of Him than my triumphs (or lack thereof) on earth.

I can live with that.

Stars in the Universe—GVBC 2012

I spent last week at Green Valley Bible Camp in Rogers, Arkansas, where I worked as a counselor and had a great week spending time with 120 young people from across several states. 

The theme of our camp session this year was Stars in the Universe, and during the week we focused on the idea that Christians are called to be a distinctive people who stand out from those who surround them. As Paul says in Philippians 2.14-15:

“Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe…”

Unfortunately, Christians (of all ages, not just teenagers) are often more influenced by the “crooked and depraved generation” in which they live than they are influencers of it. Christians easily conform to the world’s standards and practices on modesty, sexual purity, gossip, integrity, and a host of other issues.

This is tragic, because if Christians don’t shine their lights and stand out from the world around them, then the world will remain in darkness. As Christians, we cannot benefit the world if we are just the same as everyone else.

Green Valley is a pretty bright place—with so many Christians all around you, letting your light shine isn’t as difficult. My prayer for our campers (and myself) is that, as we return to our normal lives in a culture that largely repudiates Christian values, we continue to shine like stars in the universe. 

Here’s a link to the 2012 Green Valley Slideshow. My buddy Jake Greer did a great job putting it together.

Observation #14

At some point in my Facebook life, I decided that as a matter of principle, I would not unfriend (or is it defriend?) anyone. This is a decision that I regret.

Daily.