Have you ever watched a baseball game and noticed that when a runner gets to first base he has a chat with the firstbase coach? I cannot tell you verbatim what is being said, and probably could not get it printed even if I knew. But I know the gist. I can guarantee you that the coach is not trying to come up with something the runner has never heard before. Novelty is irrelevant. The coach is not trying to look insightful or intelligent. His job is to go over the obvious. Make sure the runner is aware of what he ought to have known anyway: how many are out; what to do on certain types of plays that might come up. Good baseball teams communicate with one another, going over the obvious facts, making sure that everyone is concentrating on the basic issues. We disciples need to learn how to coach first base.

I believe a dramatic revolution would sweep through our congregation if we regularly reminded one another to be more loving, if we systematically kept the reminder before us that Jesus is our Lord and Savior. Unhappily we are often afraid to tell old stories, or share what we think people have already heard, and so we keep quiet. Then, Christians we thought were sure of their faith drift away and we discover too late that we should have been witnessing to them all along. We don’t stay Christian by hearing only new and excitingly different ideas. We stay Christian by feeding on the meat and potatoes of faith.