I don’t want to miss it. On opening day, my boyhood heart returns.

Thinking back, I remember cleaning my bats and oiling my gloves (as a catcher I always had at least two). I would lay out my uniform–from white tube socks to ball cap–just so I would be ready for each new season. Over the years, 1000 games were each new chances to support my team, be a star, please my father, and catch a girl’s eye in the stands. Opening day simply opened the door to a new season. Amazing possibilities abounded. Your old records became unimportant, losses just notes in the newsprint of yellowed sports pages. Everything started fresh.  Wow! All inaugurated with a gruff umpire’s cry: “Play ball!”

It strikes me that Easter is like this.

Jesus takes the losses of eternity, and with a throaty cry of, “It is finished,” pushes the old records of humanity into the past. Jesus has left the tomb, and everything starts fresh. New possibilities abound, not just for one day, but forever. Wow! On Easter morning, even the angels are dumbfounded, “Why to you seek the living among the dead?” This is the choice for each of us today: be among the dead or be among the living. Today, in Christ, we each have a new chance to shine. To support our team. To please our Father. To find new love. Today and every new day. “The mercies of God are new every morning.”

Regaining the heart of a child is possible. Jesus played baseball.

Today is opening day.  I don’t want to miss it.