God Stuff

Cheeseburgers For Breakfast and Recreational Kickball

Kickball

In the opening scenes of the movie Pulp Fiction, the two protagonists (Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield) are retrieving a briefcase belonging to their crime boss employer Marcellus Wallace. While the contents of the briefcase remain a mystery throughout the movie, suffice to say it is of great value and they have been tasked with returning the briefcase at all costs. (The fact that they remark that “we should have shotguns for this” sort of reinforces this fact.) The briefcase is being held by two young men who live in a run down apartment building. Vincent and Jules enter the boys apartment and, as it is early in the morning, happen to interrupt their breakfast. When Jules asks what they are having for breakfast, the leader of the young men replies… “Cheeseburgers.”

One man’s lunch is another man’s breakfast.

After sharing a soda, discussing vegetarianism, a rather through interrogation and reciting a passage of scripture, Vincent and Jules proceed to shoot and kill the young men. Unfortunately for them, a third youth is hiding in the bathroom with a handgun. After hearing the Bible passage and gunfire, this young man kicks open the bathroom door and, at point blank range, unloads all six shots from his revolver.

This should be the end of the road for our two gangsters. However, amazingly all six shots miss. Vincent and Jules then return fire. …They do not miss.

Later that morning (after events too complicated to explain) Vincent and Jules discuss the incident over a meal at a local diner. Jules has attributed their survival to “an act of God.”

A miracle.

Vincent however is skeptical and declares that, while admittedly peculiar, what they experienced was a freak occurrence.

Chance.

Jules explains that Vincent is looking at the situation the wrong way. Whether or not the events of that morning were an actual “according to Hoyle” miracle is not important. What matters to Jules is that he has decided that God has gotten involved in his life and he can no longer lead the life of a criminal.

For Jules, God is no longer an abstract being. He’s no longer just a passive bystander to life.

God has become involved.

And for Jules, this changes everything.

Speaking of kickball… (smooth segue, right?) I play in an adult recreational kickball league.

Yes, they exist.

In the first game, my very first kick, I popped it straight up in the air to the second baseman. Fortunately for me, a kickball is much harder to catch that it appears and the ball ricocheted off her shoulder and into the outfield. While this is supposed to be the “non-competitive league,” my aggressive nature took over. I rounded first base and headed full speed for second. Unfortunately for me, I failed to take into account that my poor diet, increasing age, and general lack of exercise had taken a toll on what speed I used to possess. As I neared second base, the fact that I was likely to be out became a real possibility. Due to my poor physical condition, increasing age, lack of exercise, and the fact that I didn’t want to get itchy, I decided sliding into second wasn’t an option. So, I sort of went to the outside of the base and stuck my foot way out to the side.

I still think I was safe.

As you have probably gathered, the umpire saw it differently.

Same play. Two people. Two different conclusions.

Speaking of flying… (again, master of the segue) I recently went to Texas. I was going there to perform a wedding ceremony for some close friends. Like any great wedding ceremony, I planned this one at 2 a.m. the night before. When I arrived at the airport, I was informed of the fact that there would be a 4 hour delay.

This trip is starting out well.

So, I bought a cup of overpriced coffee and sat down to read a book. At the time, I was reading The Legend of Baggar Vance by Steven Pressfield. If you’ve seen the movie…I’m sorry. Read the book, it’s really pretty good. Without giving too much away, God comes down disguised as an itinerant caddy to help a young man discover his “authentic swing.” And yes, while teaching him about golf, He’s really teaching him about life.

Going through my head at this time (and again, a lot can go through your head during a 4 hour flight delay) was the fact that for almost a year, I’d felt distant from God. Prayer and communication, which I had previously enjoyed, had become fairly non-existent. For some time, I had felt very much alone. Both in the spiritual sense and in the very real emotional sense. …Clearly, I was the perfect choice to officiate a wedding.

I was also contemplating the fact that while planning a wedding (the union of two souls for all of eternity) I had several good friends who were experiencing relationship troubles. …Marriage it seems was not the magic answer to ending loneliness.

Through this entire mess of loneliness, separation, broken relationships, wedding planning, existential self-help books and long flight delays, I noticed one thing…

a cute girl standing alone by the widow.

I decided at that moment to do something very uncharacteristic for me. Walk up and talk to the cute girl standing alone by the window.

I’d love to tell you that we’re now dating and planning to be married, but that’s not the case. I actually only got her first name. We did speak for about 20 minutes though and it was quite nice.

Later, much later thanks to American Airlines, that night I was sitting in my hotel room in Texas after polishing off a cheeseburger.

One man’s lunch is another man’s midnight snack.

And it dawned on me. You can be just as alone in a relationship as you can be single. The secret isn’t hoping that your situation will change, that you’ll meet somebody, your spouse will come back, you’ll find a new job, win the lottery or whatever it is that you think will happen

and then life will be perfect.

The secret is finding your true swing. Being happy with who you are.

This is not Earth-shattering news, I know, to many people. But for me it was a breakthrough.

Did God cause
the flight to be delayed
my friends to have relationship problems
my other friends to get married
in Texas
me to be reading just the right book
at the right time
for a cute girl to be alone
 by the window
and for me to have the courage to talk to her?

Probably not. But for me it doesn’t matter. God got involved.

So, may you see each situation in your life, each freak occurrence, not as a coincidence but as God getting involved in a very real way in your life and the lives of those around you.

A miracle? Probably not. …But what if it is?

 

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