August 27
In Cuba, nothing is bigger than baseball, not even the cigars. Nothing, that is, except Castro.
Recently, the 74-year-old dictator, grabbed an aluminum bat and walked to the plate in an exhibition game against Venezuela. When Castro approached the batter’s box, the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez left his first base position to take the mound.
His first pitch didn’t even reach the plate and Castro kept his bat on his shoulder. The next pitch was a strike, but Castro missed. A couple more balls and an attempted bunt later, the two heads of state were locked into a full count.
Castro watched the 3–2 pitch blaze through the middle of the strike zone and listened as the umpire called him out. “No,” Castro said, “That was a ball.” And he took first base.
No one argued.
President Chavez said nothing. The opposing team said nothing, and the umpire said nothing.
Later Castro joked that “Today just wasn’t his [President Chavez] day.”
Castro was right, it wasn’t Chavez’s day. But not because of his pitching. It is hard to get a batter out when he has the power to overrule the umpire’s calls.
Dictators can get away with that. The rest of us can’t.
In God’s economy, dictators can’t either. Everyone will face God’s ultimate judgment, and when we do, His [Word] will be final.
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” (2 Cor. 5:10 NASB)
Jim L. Wilson, Fresh Start Devotionals (Fresno, CA: Willow City Press, 2009).
“Strike 3, Take your Base”
In Cuba, nothing is bigger than baseball, not even the cigars. Nothing, that is, except Castro.
Recently, the 74-year-old dictator, grabbed an aluminum bat and walked to the plate in an exhibition game against Venezuela. When Castro approached the batter’s box, the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez left his first base position to take the mound.
His first pitch didn’t even reach the plate and Castro kept his bat on his shoulder. The next pitch was a strike, but Castro missed. A couple more balls and an attempted bunt later, the two heads of state were locked into a full count.
Castro watched the 3–2 pitch blaze through the middle of the strike zone and listened as the umpire called him out. “No,” Castro said, “That was a ball.” And he took first base.
No one argued.
President Chavez said nothing. The opposing team said nothing, and the umpire said nothing.
Later Castro joked that “Today just wasn’t his [President Chavez] day.”
Castro was right, it wasn’t Chavez’s day. But not because of his pitching. It is hard to get a batter out when he has the power to overrule the umpire’s calls.
Dictators can get away with that. The rest of us can’t.
In God’s economy, dictators can’t either. Everyone will face God’s ultimate judgment, and when we do, His [Word] will be final.
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” (2 Cor. 5:10 NASB)
Jim L. Wilson, Fresh Start Devotionals (Fresno, CA: Willow City Press, 2009).
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