A Life Worth Following

A parable is defined as an earthly story with a heavenly meeting.  When Jesus was walking around with skin, He used a lot of “parables” to help people understand the character of God, the plan of God and the heart of God.  

This past January, as the vision for the Ambassadors really started to unfold, God used a parable found in Matthew 25:14-30 to speak to my heart as we prayed whether or not we should launch the baseball team in 2008.  

Essentially, Jesus is using this earthly story to communicate a heavenly meaning that applies just as well in 2008 as it did in the first century when it was written. If the reference is not familiar, many of you will remember the story.  This parable is about talents (a measure of money) but it speaks to so much more than monetary situations.  It is a story about three guys who were given a certain amount of money by their master.  The first two guys were given a lot and they took what the master gave to them, invested it and it produced double.  This pleased the master and both of the guys were blessed.  The blessing was so significant that the scripture say’s “they entered into the joy of the Lord”.  The third, did not have such a great experience, because he was afraid of losing what the master had given to him.  Basically,  he did nothing with his gift, only buried it.  The scripture reveals that the master was extremely displeased.  He was so displeased that there was punishment for his irresponsibility.  Not only did punishment occur but the talent was taken away and given to the guy who had the most.  

Though there are many applications that could be made from this parable, the heavenly meaning is a very clear and obvious challenge to all of us.  God intentionally gives gifts to His children.  When we receive a gift, we must be responsible with it.  Doing nothing with what God gives you is just not acceptable.  When God gives something to you, it is important to trust that He knows what He is doing and trust yourself that this blessing from God is no accident.  

In January, God used the heavenly meaning in this parable to give us the confidence to launch this ministry. I sit here today amazed at how the Lord has moved in our lives and used our story.  We were absolutely right to trust Him along the way.  

In the beginning of January, several things started happening.  First of all, God was blessing the book “A Life Worth Following”.  Many people began to rub shoulders with God’s word and Justin’s life.  We actually sold out of books by the first week of 2008 and had ordered the second shipment.  Actually, people kept buying books even though they were on back order.  This is when the Holy Spirit began to unveil a big vision for a baseball ministry.  

Could it really be possible that we could form an elite baseball team that could be trained to help other people connect with God through the platform of baseball while at the same time helping these boys gaining exposure to College coaches and Major League scouts around the country?  Then, would it be possible to end this incredible summer of clinics, ministry, tournaments and games with an international mission trip where we take our team and our story to another country?  Could all of this become a reality?  

This dream and vision hit our our hearts with incredible clarity.  We started praying for God to send us 20 guys who would be willing to play for us.  We also prayed for the right connections as we put together our ministry schedule and our baseball schedule.  Immediately, this dream began to come into focus, and just as quickly so did the financial realities.  

Since it was already late January, everything from a human perspective said, “Start in 2009, give yourself a year and a half to raise the money.”  However, the message of Matthew 25 kept ringing clearly, “Invest what God has given to you, don’t bury it.”  We were in a situation where God had to supernaturally come through or it just was not going to happen.  But is was an adventure we just had to take.  

Needless to say, the Lord kept opening doors for us at just the right time.  Very quickly, Coach Savedra and Coach Vallerand signed up to help us coach and put together the team.  Shortly after that; very good baseball players started crossing our path and getting excited about playing for us.  In fact, we prayed for 20 players and had 45 guys come to us.  The journey of seeing the Lord open all the doors was truly a supernatural experience for all of us.  Around March of this year, things had progressed.  We had coaches, we had tournament invitations and we had great baseball players wanting to play for us. There was just one thing missing, the funding for the summer.     

Again, those human voices started coming to the surface, “The money is not there.”  ”It is too early to start.”  ”This is not going to work.”  ”Baseball is just a game, it is not good for ministry.”  But again, the message of Matthew 25, kept coming to the surface.  ”Invest what I have given to you, don’t be afraid.”  So, we kept moving forward.

Again, God began to open doors.  At one coach’s meeting, I called former Council Roader and current Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder, Jeff Salazar and he committed an initial $5000 to us along with another $5000 when The Ambassadors win 20 games.  Several other major league players heard about what we were doing and agreed to partner with us.  Major League Baseball Alumni Association agreed to partner with us for a fundraiser golf tournament.  Even though this would not help us this summer, it was very encouraging to have their support.  A lawyer from Dallas sent us a check, along with people from Georgia, Texas, California and Oklahoma.  God began to draw the hearts of His people and they started sending checks to us.  Finally, one week before our deadline, the funding for our first seven weeks was secured. The only thing we were unable to pay for was our mission trip.  The trigger for the baseball team was pulled and the ministry began.    

The summer has been amazing.  The gospel has been shared with countless numbers of people and 58 so far have come to know Christ.  Divine appointments have been the norm for our team and our guys have not only benefited as ball players, they have more importantly grown in their walk with the Lord.  However, all summer long, we have prayed for our mission trip.  At first we thought we were supposed to go to the Dominican Republic.  When the deadline came for that trip, we did not have the money so we had to keep praying.  Those human voices returned:  ”You missed it.”  ”You made a mistake.”  ”It is crazy to try to raise the money for a baseball mission trip.”  Days after the door shut for the Dominican Republic, a door opened to Nicaragua.  John Wasdin from the Memphis Redbirds came and spoke to our team in Memphis.  He shared about the opportunities in Nicaragua and even helped set some incredible things up for us.  However, there was still the reality that the funds had not come in.  But in the midst of that very real reality was another voice. One that pointed me to Hebrews 11:1 and Hebrews 11:6

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we cannot see.”

“Without faith, it is impossible to please God.”  

There was this voice saying, “I will provide”, “I have a plan for you.”  ”I own cattle on a thousand hills”.  I needed him to sell a couple of those cattle and some how have it sent to ALWF so we could go to Nicaragua.  The problem for me was this; I just could not see how the Lord was going to provide.    

This past Wednesday morning, I had a meeting with Juliann Sullivan and we determined that as of 10:00 am, we were $25,000 short of going to Nicaragua.  The trigger for the trip, had to be pulled by Monday July 6th.  Those human voices returned, “It’s been a great summer but it is just not going to work out this year.” “God has provided so much, a mission trip with an entire baseball team was just too big.” But then the Holy Spirit pushed us to keep trying.

Remember, at 10:00 am, we were short $25,000.  By 11:00, we remembered Jeff Salazar’s second $5000 he is sending to us, the BGCO committed $2500, an individual gave us $1000 and Knipplemeir Cheverolet committed $500.  By lunch time, our $25,000 deficit was down to $16,000.  

Mid afternoon, I came into my office and shut the door to get on my knees.  The second I started praying to the Lord, telling him where we were financially, (I think He already knew but I thought I would mention it) the name of a family who has ministered to me in my life for many years, popped into my head.  I immediately got up from my knees and called them.  They were not at home so I left a message.  At 5:00 pm, they felt lead by the Holy Spirit to call me immediately.  When I answered and began to share what was happening with the Ambassadors and I began to share about the opportunities that were set up in Nicaragua.  (I will share those another day).  When I got to the fact that were were $16,000 short in our funding, God’s Spirit led them to give the entire remaining amount to send our team on the trip to Nicaragua.  I was speechless and I started bawling.  God answered our prayers.  He provided for us.  He made a way, where I could not see any way.  Man, He is so good at that.  

Today, we began the process of securing plane tickets. 

All I can say is that God has once again proven Himself faithful.  It is amazing that when He gives something to us, He enables us to use it for His glory.  I will never forget this lesson and the parable of the talents.  I will never forget July 2, 2008 because it was a day that God took a 1st Century parable and translated it to my world in 2008.  Wednesday July 2, 2008 was a day when I experienced God keeping another promise He made.  I am thankful that for all those earthly stories with heavenly meanings.