Last night I took a trip to Heaven. Okay, not literally like John did when he was hanging out on the island of Patmos and wrote the book of Revelation, but close enough.
And on my recent trip to Heaven, there was wiffle ball.
Last night, a group of us from my new church home of only 5 months, gathered at another member’s house for a high stakes game of wiffle ball and hot dogs.


I sat and watched a group of adults, teenagers and tots run around the bases, striking out and sending the plastic ball deep into the cow pasture. In a simple moment, everyone on the field was 8 years old again, living life without a care in the world, full of smiles and joy.

This wasn’t just your average game of wiffle ball. 

I watched him stand there, waiting for the ball to come at just the right angle – a former drug addict who recently celebrated one year sober. I cheered as she slid into second base, a former alcoholic whose voice was stolen by a man for way too many years. I saw a little girl give her dad a high-five after a line drive right down the middle. He just got out of prison a few weeks ago. The local cop, decked in his straw hat, ran straight down the first base line, towards a former drug dealer he’d arrested too many times to count. Now they worship on Sundays together. I watched the preacher of our little church dive straight into a mud puddle to catch the out.

God shows up in the Storm

A thunderstorm swept in and cut the game short and we wound up huddling on the front porch as the wind blew tree branches across the field and lightning lit up the sky. Under a small front porch, huddled together, stood such a diverse group of people, and I could only imagine, as thunder rolled and the lightning painted across the sky, how moved God was.
His children, gathered around, celebrating one another, all in His name. And in that moment, no one’s past mattered. Rich or poor. Young or old. Short or tall. Those who grew up in the church and those who’d just given their lives to Jesus. None of it mattered.

The storm blew through and everyone headed back to the field, full of mud and mire. There was a wiffle ball game to be played. Water splashed. Muddy toes emerged. And right there in the center of it all, healed hearts.
Because that’s who Jesus is. Despite our past, regardless of the muddy pits we bury ourselves in, He promises to save us – to redeem us. 
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Ahh.. It wasn’t the smell of fresh rain in the air. It was Redemption. Freedom. Reconciliation. Forgiveness. Joy. Peace.
This verse has been on my heart for the last couple weeks and I’ve been asking God to show me what the fragrance of the knowledge of Him is. I believe He answered my prayer last night, right in the middle of a wiffle ball game.

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. – 2 Cor. 2:14

This is what the church is all about.

We are all broken people with one thing in common – we all need a Savior. We all need someone to pull us out of the mud and huddle on the front porch with us when the storms of life rage. The church isn’t a building. It’s a body of humans, all broken, despite our different sins, coming together with a common purpose – to serve God and grow in our relationship with Him together.

Oh, how I missed this. The smell of a cow pasture. The peace in the midst of chaos and laughter. The old friendships rekindled. The new friendships created.
I moved back here to help others heal, but the funny thing is, I’m healing in the midst of it. I’m opening up hidden places of my heart and allowing others in. People. God is using them to mend broken pieces. I am grateful. 

We stood in a circle at the end of the game and prayed together, all of us, out loud. The sound of our prayers was a symphony, beautifully orchestrated and each note perfectly tuned in God’s ears. I know He smiled. I did. That’s what Heaven will be like – bankers, former drug addicts, preachers, police officers, welders, former alcoholics, and even St. Louis Cardinals fans, all standing together, worshiping the God who created us.
Oh.. and wiffle ball.