Minute Details Orchestrated by a Mighty Hand

As seasoned Christians, we sometimes forget how amazing God really is. How meticulous and perfect He is in all His ways. We take for granted His goodness, mercy, and unfailing love. Way too often, we doubt and worry and fear instead of trusting the One who is and was and always will be.

How downright foolish we are!

I was reminded of my fickle faith recently through a series of divinely orchestrated events.

A few days ago, I was combing through an online folder for some blogs I had written years back when three photographs grabbed my attention. I opened the first one and was not too thrilled with a picture of me in my larger but younger days.

I figured the other two images would go along with that unimpressive photo. So, it’s a wonder I even opened the other two. But I did, and I let out a deep sigh when I saw our youngest son Chris playing baseball.

Ironically, Chris and I had passed by the sight of those pictures a few days earlier, and I had actually laughed and said, “I used to hate driving by this ballpark.”

He asked why, so I explained, “It took a lot of years to forget about the last game you ever played there. It was such a bittersweet moment, an unexpected, inexplicable ending to a whole lot of years of being a baseball mom.”

I laughed again and added, “Plus, y’all lost that last game, which made things even worse.”

I guess that conversation was still fresh on my mind when I “accidentally” found two pictures taken on the exact day we had discussed. Who knows! Maybe that was why I downloaded the duo of baseball images with the intention of sending them to my son later.

But something caught my eye.

There was a child in one photo, preschool age. He was walking toward the camera as Chris was walking away; they were high-fiving each other. But I had no recollection of the little boy, much less taking his picture.

He had on a baseball hat matching the Cotton States League team hat Chris was wearing that day. How did this kid get that hat? Who was he?

Then, it hit me like a ton of bricks! This little boy had to be the son of Coach Basil, the coach from that 2010 team. The very same coach who gave our son Chris his first job as a high school assistant coach and teacher.

Is that not amazing?

Even more amazing, the boy I photographed high-fiving Chris as he walked off that field 13 years ago is now a sophomore at a local high school where he is a pitcher – on the baseball team Chris helps coach.

Wow!

I sent the picture to my son and Coach Basil, and they verified that it was indeed the coach’s son.

Now, you are probably thinking, So what? It’s kind of sweet but not that big of a deal. Well, it’s a very big deal to me. And as I said earlier, it reminded me of just how amazing God really is.

It also amazes me that some of my best lessons were learned on a ball field. Totally amazing, considering I couldn’t hit a baseball if I tried all day.

But here’s the thing that makes it most important to me. It was taken on one of the saddest, most confusing days of my life as a mom. It is the very last image of Chris ever taken as a baseball player.

As a mom, I was devastated because I could not understand how 20 (exactly) years of baseball were ending in a loss at a field just up the road from home. No more college ball. No more summer ball. Nothing. Not even coaching loomed in Chris’ future. It was done. Baseball was over.

I vividly recalled snapping that picture through tears as his dad and brother walked Chris out of a baseball field for the very last time as a player.

What was the point? I kept asking myself that day. Were all those hours and dollars and sweat and tears spent on ballfields across the country for nothing?

It just made no sense to me for his baseball career to end like that, especially considering God had told Chris for years to give baseball his very best because it was his path to tomorrow.

Now, 13 years later, I sat holding a picture of the end of that road…or so it had seemed.

And to be honest, I didn’t even remember there was a child in the last picture I took back then. Sure, I remembered taking it, but I only pictured a dad who worked 12-hour shifts in a tough, thankless job so his two boys could do the thing they loved best – play baseball. In my mind’s eye, all I remembered was a loving daddy walking his baby boy off the field for the very last time.

Don’t get me wrong. I always knew God had a plan for my son, but on that day, it made absolutely no sense for baseball to have been such a huge part of His plan for Chris – if it was all ending right then and there.

But now, studying this picture of a little boy and the man who would one day be his coach, all I could think was, Look at God!

I marveled as I looked at Ben’s little hand high-fiving Chris. As Ben was entering the field to find his dad, Coach Basil, Chris was leaving it.

But God knew that Chris would find both Coach Basil and Ben a little later on.

In fact, that 2010 scene has been replayed a lot of times over the past few years. I cannot count the times I have seen Ben’s hand (now much larger in size) fist bump Coach Lucius after a great inning of pitching or a productive at-bat. I just never realized I was viewing an “instant replay” until I found this old photograph.

So, I know in my heart that God took that picture back in 2010 – for me in 2023.

I needed a reminder that back then, when it seemed impossible and even futile, God had a good, good plan. That day was not the end of baseball for Chris. It was an actual picture of a faint whisper, a promise from a faithful God that there was more to come. Much more.

Amazingly, God’s “more” included a pitcher named Ben and a lot of other kids in a school that would welcome a young coach with open arms and give him a home when he needed it most. That home, East Union Attendance Center, would bring him a beautiful wife and three precious children. And that same home would stand by Coach Lucius through two rounds of leukemia and a stem cell transplant.

So, yes. This picture is a big deal. It is a divine, gold-standard reminder of a promise made and fulfilled to a little boy and his momma, one more tangible piece of evidence that God is forever faithful.

In His mighty hand, the most minute details of our lives, even the ones that seem useless, hopeless, and totally without promise, are used to orchestrate the biggest, most beautiful plan for our lives. Not one single moment, even on our worst days, is unseen or unused by God.

If we give our lives to Him, each moment, every detail of our lives, becomes a stepping stone on His perfectly planned path. In Philippians 2:13, we see that it is God alone who works in us to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose.

Truly, our God is so amazing. Why do we ever doubt Him?