We went to a minor league ballgame the other night as part of our week-long "Staycation" festivities. The organizers obviously go out of their way to appeal to families coming to the ballpark as "flying giveaways" were in ample supply. There were also hot dogs for 25 cents...nachos with lots of cheese sauce...and slushies that came in red, blue or a mixture of the two (purple would be an apt description of the color, but not the flavor). We sang the national anthem and an off-key version of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" (I don't think the guy with the mic knew all the words to that one). I even caught a foul ball on two hops. Then there was the "Running of the Mascots". I've seen it before, of course, but not this up-close-and-personal version. While they were getting ready, they walked one of the "mascots" right in front of us. You could tell it was most likely a middle-school-age girl they picked from the sparse crowd in attendance. She was wearing tennis shoes with pink laces and being led in a direction that she was obviously not familiar with. There was a "helper" walking with her and kind of guiding her along...explaining how the next few moments of her life would unfold..."OK, all you gotta do is run from left field toward home plate..." Some other mascots that came from somewhere else gathered by the fence next to her out there. They seemed to be more "in the know" as it pertained to "mascoting". The announcer introduced them all...not really sure what any of the characters had to do with a baseball game...There was a butterbean...a dog wearing a "flying ace" costume...an armadillo with a cowboy hat...and that chubby little Roman guy from the pizza store. Our girl, the butterbean, won in a landslide and I'm pretty sure it was rigged because the others didn't seem to be trying very hard even after getting ripped by the announcer for loafing, and I didn't buy pizza-pizza guy tripping and falling for a second. I was kind of glad she won, though, because it seems like if you're gonna dress a teen-ager in a faded butterbean costume she really ought to get something for the effort.
I got to thinking about it. What happens to the funky little costumes after the race? My guess is, they go into some closet or box or something awaiting tomorrow night's game and another "Free-large-pepperoni-pizza-and-breadsticks" winner. I mean, mascots don't have a life outside of the time when someone's inside them...right? They're not all hanging out in the dugout after the game making fun of the armadillo and his silly-looking hat or standing around belly-aching because the race was fixed and the butterbean got a headstart. They're all just outer shells that are brought to life by the one who's wearing them. Just like "Christ in you" (Col 1:27). Luke writes, "In Him (Jesus) we live and move and have our being". It's the Holy Spirit that animates the believer. How exciting to think about that. Christ living the "Christ life" through me! Life flows from God, and true life is found only in Him. Sure each of us have our own one-of-a-kind style...He created us with a unique personality. But He's the One Who will bring that personality to its full-bodied flavor if we'll let Him. We're the salt of the earth...ever tasted salt? It's really pretty bad in and of itself. You'd think that if you put it on food, everything would taste kinda bitter...you know...like a mouth full of plain salt. But that's not what happens at all. When salt is put on food (especially butterbeans, I think) it brings out the flavor...enhances it...makes food come to life. I think about Christ living His life through me...animating me...bringing out the unique person He's created me to be....honestly, it makes me want to be Jesus'... well...mascot (so to speak)...you know... running the race with endurance...yeah...that'd be cool... I don't really have any desire whatsoever to be that butterbean... I'll leave that to the little girl in the pink-laced tennis shoes.
