When life throws you curve balls, bunt. It is not possible for the human mind to conceive all the possibilities which could exist if they did exist. The size of the issues we face in our daily existence is usually measured by the pile of experience we have amassed. 
There is a fairly safe, innocuous path which can be followed and is prized by those with timid or limited expectations. For others there is the most incredulously dangerous one which has a low long term survivability rate. And somewhere in between are the curve balls.
When a baseball player goes to bat, they have differing approaches based on their capabilities and opponent. After years of coaching and practice they have accumulated a knowledge base which allows them to have a fairly predictable expectation. In short they can know whether they are more likely to strike out or hit a home run. Babe Ruth hit a league leading, record setting sixty home runs in nineteen twenty seven. He also led the league that season with eighty nine strikeouts. I don’t know if he struck out more on curve balls or hit more of them over the fence. What I do know is that in order to accomplish either of these records, he had to swing at a lot of pitches. In his biography he said “I swing big, with everything I’ve got. I hit big or I miss big. I like to live as big as I can.”
Other seasons and other players had differing results. In nineteen twenty three the Babe was walked (base on balls) an amazing one hundred seventy times. In each season he faced different pitchers, had different coaches, used different techniques and probably different philosophies to achieve his statistics. While you may not know a great deal about baseball, you probably know a thing or two about life. First, you have made it this far so you must have swung at some good pitches along the way. Or it is possible you just avoided the bad ones. Most likely (from my experience) you probably had a combination of the two.
Analogies are a good way to help people with shared experiences to communicate ideas which can become shared truths. The truth in life is that there are many ways to view things and events. Things are that which is created, made or manipulated. Events are what those things participate in while passing through time. Time as a commodity is measurable, limited and not repeatable. So, as we are fond of repeating, the saying goes “you only go around once”. Each choice you make, each swing at the pitch you take, or don’t take, determines what the next possibility is. For a child, finishing high school opens several doors which may not be available to a drop out. It does not mean the drop out cannot be successful, just that there are different doors to go through.
Often we pattern ourselves after others. We observe their level of success or enjoyment or something we find desirable and attempt to emulate it. If it is something we are suited for by temperament and talent, we can anticipate a reasonable measure of success. But whether we are following another or making our own unique trail, somewhere along the way, life throws a curve ball. Just as we are certain we can see what is incoming and can envision the next outcome, something spins off in a new direction. At that point we either make the adjustment or miss the opportunity entirely.
And even if we are able to anticipate and make an adjustment, it may not be enough to achieve our original goal. You might just foul one off. Sometimes a well-placed bunt can be as productive as a well hit long ball.
Christianity can be like that. For some it is a lifelong exposure and an early acceptance which allows for easy adoption and rapid maturity. Others are so distant from it that mountains obscure it from view. The lack of exposure allows other values to take root and doubts of its validity to become the measure of truth which must be addressed. Or there may be indoctrination and acceptance of another way which on the surface seems not only plausible but a completely valid alternative. At some point maybe you got used to swinging at curve balls. So much so that it is not possible to recognize a straight fastball as a pitch worth swinging at. Now it is true that you don’t have to swing at all the pitches in order to decide which ones are bad. But you do have to swing at something in order to connect. In order to connect with the Bible declared creator of the universe and that of course means the creator of all people as well, you need to take a swing. For me it was around twenty five years of age when all the hypocrisy of humanity and war and peace and money and love and vain empty promises and accomplishments came to a head. I had recently been exposed (more than I understood at the time) to the truth of the Bible and the personal Savior. Jesus claimed not only to be creator but forgiver and restorer also. Late one starlit summer evening I shook my fist at the dark night sky and declared “If you are really real, show me the truth and I will believe you.
Now you can put the emphasis on the words you choose to in the previous sentence but I do not remember how I actually said it. But I know this. The curve balls started straightening out. The choices seemed a little easier to make. As I listened to Christians who were the “real deal”, I saw past the imperfections of hypocrisy. I could make some sense out of what I was reading because I asked for help from the one who wrote the book. Eventually I took the best swing I had ever taken in my life. When my bat connected with that ball on Rattlesnake Road on MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa Florida, I hit it out of the park. I didn’t quite understand it but that moment changed the team I was on. It changed the pitcher I had to face, the coach I could listen to and the team mates I was working with.
That was over thirty five years ago. I’ve faced a lot of curve balls since then. I’ve swung at a few bad pitches too, In fact I have struck out when I should’ve taken a base on balls. But I am on the winning team. Even if I make the last out in the inning, I am still on His team. When I can help someone else come to know Jesus or His ways a little better then I am sharing some of the batting tips I have learned. When I help someone understand why they should not have swung at a bad pitch then I help them make better decisions. On a baseball team, not everyone plays the same position, uses the same size bat, scores the same number of runs or catches the ball by leaping high in the air to keep it from going over the fence. There are two teams in the World Series. God already knows which one is going to win. The sweetest part of the whole game is that in order to be on the winning team, you only have to ask.