So Much More: Discovering the Generosity of God

One day, while shoveling down ballpark food and soaking up the ambience of the game from a fourth-row seat, I found myself in an encounter that brought a poignant shift in perspective. 
We unknowingly settle for less when there is so much more. 
In this episode, we explore this concept, drawing parallels between a day at the baseball game and our walk with God.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

The other day I skipped work, skipped town and went to a baseball game. A friend supported this endeavor while sponsoring it, really by purchasing me a fourth row ticket to an all-inclusive area of the stadium. Now, what this means is there were three rows in front of me and I made sure to let my friend know. I felt his love, but also that that love wasn't of a first row variety Room to grow. I guess I ate a big free meal. And then I took my seat, chatted with strangers around me, read a paperback yep, i was that guy and watched my favorite team play some wonderfully boring baseball. It's the best kind, really. It was just this perfect day. Adding to this perfection was the food, not necessarily the quality. Food is food to me, especially ballpark food. What I'm talking about is the quantity. I'm of the financial position and disposition where the only food I eat at the ballpark has to travel there in my pockets. Even if I could afford a $7 bratwurst, i wouldn't be able to stomach it just the thought of spending that kind of money on a bratwurst. But included with my seat was the ability to order Anything. It would be brought to me for free. I was not a king, though those were seated in the first three rows, obviously. But I was easily a duker Baron, the prince of peanuts, the sultan of soda, the chief of cheeseburgers, the oligarch of overweight. It was a unique day away And I looked up and just like that, it was over, or nearly over.

Speaker 1: 1:37

At the 7th inning they said there was a last call. So I hurriedly submitted a final order just before the cutoff Another soda, a bag of popcorn for my young heirs who awaited my return home, and a bratwurst for the car ride. I'd take the decadence to go, please. I got my loot and I left first class to re-enter general population. Hustling to my car to beat traffic, i tucked the popcorn under my arm like I was running back and I slid the bratwurst in my pocket so I could really swing my arm and get going Outside the stadium.

Speaker 1: 2:10

Reality beckoned, it did so through the voice of a homeless man. Hey, can I have your popcorn? That's what he said. Nah, this is for my kids, i answered. He looked unsurprised, unfazed, unseen, unknown. But here I walked over and thrust the bratwurst into his waiting hand. It was still warm. His eyes and smile noted the upgrade. God, i think is kind of like this, like. I wanted a $4 ticket. That was the price range I was looking at but I was given the fourth row and all the treasure that came with it. This man had wanted stale stadium popcorn because that was all he could see. He couldn't see the tart-away bratwurst that was fresh there in my pocket. We both got better treasures, but we both were content to settle. We both were unknowingly proximate to more. The reality that more was waiting.

Speaker 1: 3:11

God is bigger than I think he is. If he's anything at all. He has to be bigger than I think he is. Regardless of how I size him up, he is mightier still. He is stronger, he's bigger, he is more capable. It has to be that way. I can't overestimate God, or he wouldn't be God Yet. I settle for the nosebleeds and stale popcorn When I have the love and grace, a bounding from the King of Kings, the creator of baseball, of bratwurst and everything in between. God, let me expect great things from you. Let me come before you boldly, not from my own standing or from my own standing, but because of your goodness, because of your loving kindness, because of your untethered grace. Let me live in light and life of your promises today And you and your provision. May I never settle because you're able Give me eyes to see your beauty and constant thirst for your better treasure. Amen, amen, amen.