An Ode to Brooks Robinson

"As one writer once said, people may have named candy bars after Reggie Jackson, but they named children after Brooks Robinson." -p. 215, The Baseball UNcyclopedia, Michael Kun

I just got done reading the section of Genesis that involves Noah (directly, Genesis 6-10). There's one part where Noah has been shamed by his one son, Ham. Ham is noted twice as being the father to Canaan. Noah, thusly, curses Canaan and no one has been named "Ham" or "Canaan" since (that i know of). But i have known a Japheth in my time and i think Shem was one of the Three Stooges.

I'll get to the point: what type of person do you strive to be? The one that gets the candy bar named after you, or the one that people name their firstborn after?

I think it's easy in this culture to aspire towards the former. Who's the first to know? Who's the greatest? Who has the most? There's nothing really inherently wrong with Reggie Jackson. But there's something really amazing about Brooks Robinson that i think we all deep down desire more.

Legacy.

I believe a true walk with God, a life with Christ, in tune with His Spirit, produces in us the kindness and grace that turns us from "candy bar" into "namesake" type people. And the greatest most frustrating part is that if you try to become a namesake-type person, you end up chasing the candy bar. To truly be the Brooks Robinson, you need to simply be the namesake-type person, not strive to achieve it.

This is a great mystery, but aren't those the best mysteries? Aren't those the ones you can't wait to find out how they end?

Well, you are the mystery. You can be great, or just another candy bar.

By the way, the Reggie Bar only lasted a couple years, and the best info i can find on it is here on facebook!

But "A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold." Proverbs 22:1

Thank you Brooks Robinson for being esteemed over flaunting (see "The Bronx Zoo" portion) over the fact you could get a candy bar named after you.

Enoch or Noah? Part II

"Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God." Genesis 6:9

Just a few verses after reading about Enoch's walk with God, we read the aforementioned verse.

The story of Noah has become Sunday-schooled. We all conjure up pictures of felt boards, children's books, and even toys. The story has become about a faithful old man who seemingly has the giftings of Ace Ventura and Thomas Andrews (but with a much better outcome than the Titanic).

But there are a couple other verses that tell another story.

"The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain." Genesis 6:5-6

and

"if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others." II Peter 2:5

Please note the words "every inclination" and "was only evil all the time" in Genesis 6:5 above. Now things here on earth aren't exactly peachy keen, but that verse is harrowing! And though people were this way, Noah was blameless among them, and yet was a preacher to them. This reminds me a lot of Jesus in John 1:14:

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

The thing that never makes the felt board is this. While Noah is hammering nails and building a giant sea-faring vessel (maybe the first one ever, which must have looked like a U.F.O. if it were) and warning people of rain (also the first mention ever which must have sounded like "the sky is falling!") he was also a preacher of righteousness to them. Yet, no one killed him! How? He must have been full of the truth of God's heart towards them, yet inviting and gracious to them. Begging them to come into the boat with him.

And when the rain starts falling and the springs of earth open up, and the door to the ark is shut, Noah hears his friends' gurgling last words. And certainly weeps.

This, though gruesome, should hint to us something. Though so much might be perishing all around us, are we full of both grace and truth towards all of those around us?

And there's another hint here too. Not much at all is written about Enoch's walk with God but so much is written about "righteous" Noah. Maybe that's a warning to us! Should we be much more concerned with living Noah-ly than Enoch-ly? Is the story of Noah the prescription to how to have the walk of Enoch?

The main point here is this. Of course we all want to have the kind of walk with God where we are "walking with Him" and He hates to see us taste death. But i believe God gives us the prescription to how that is walked out.

And it's not on the felt board.

Enoch or Noah? Part I

"Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him." Genesis 5:24

"By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek Him." Hebrews 11:5-6

This is about all that is written about Enoch in the Bible. But one thing is certain: this is just plain cool!

Seriously, Enoch walked so tightly with God, God didn't want him to even taste death. I believe that most professing Christians, and even my non-believing friends, really would want such a life where they were, and then were no more. Simply translated from this life to that one. Wow.

But we, i fear, have Christianized the "walk with God" thing pretty well. When is the last time you've thought about what that literally means, to "walk with God?"

When i go on a walk with my wife, it is known that i am on a walk with my wife. We hold hands. We smile. We talk, deeply (goals, God, the future, fears, etc.) and not so deeply (which means i talk about baseball or she talks about The Learning Channel). It's obvious that i'm on a walk, and on a good walk with my wife.

Could you imagine coming up to me and asking, "How's your walk with your wife going?" Hopefully it's obvious! Hopefully i don't have to tell you! You would know. Wouldn't you?

The next time someone asks you "how's your walk with God going?" or something to the like, take it as a challenge. If they have to ask, it's not obvious enough that you are already walking with Him. Because to literally be on a walk with God has to be life's greatest pursuit and achievement and lifestyle all in one. What would one fear? What would one lack? How could one go wrong hand in hand with God? It's not so much what you do in life, but who you are, and who you are with.

Oh, and if they do indeed ask, please answer them politely. That would be nice. Because after all, my walk with my wife...

Ha! It's going great! Can't you tell?