Dear Friends
I love cricket!
In a few weeks the Australian Men’s test Cricket Team will take on India in the first of five tests for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. A full test series between the top two ranked test cricket teams. In my opinion, Test Cricket is the ultimate spectator sport, requiring the same levels of patience and endurance from the onlooker as it does from the player. I can think of no other sporting event that regularly requires five days of patient viewing with the very real possibility that the match may be drawn. This year, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is a five-test series, 25 days of scheduled play – patience and endurance are required to view every ball, every run, every wicket.
Many have likened the Christian life to running a marathon rather than a sprint. I was never a good runner of sprints or long distances, so the metaphor is lost on me. To my mind, the Christian life may be likened to Test Cricket. There are highs and lows. Long periods were nothing seems to happen and then moments that capture our hearts and minds. Who, of the cricket devotees amongst us, can forget the “ball of the century”. With his first ball against England, in his first Ashes Test, Shane Warne produced a spectacular delivery that clean bowled Mike Gatting.
But for all the excitement of the moments like “the Ball of the Century” or Merv Hughes’ hat-trick in three overs across two innings, much of test cricket is relentless effort for little apparent result. Life can seem like that. We toil and strive for little noticeable gain.
The writer of the book of Ecclesiastes has an eloquent phrase for the apparent meaninglessness of human toil, “meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” From an earthly perspective life can seem to be both meaningless and futile, toiling for riches and wealth or pursuing pleasure ultimately have the same outcome for the prosperous and unsuccessful alike. We live, we work, we enjoy the fruits of our labours, we patiently endure the trials and travails of life but ultimately there is only the grave. The same author, a chapter later, reveals a very different and far more compelling account of life – “God has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart.”
As we begin the runup to a summer full of cricket and other sporting events, we also begin our preparation for Christmas. The Boxing Day Test match is a summer highlight for many, but the day before is more significant. The eternity that God has set in the hearts of everyone is personified in Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God. In him we find meaning and hope.
Yours in Christ,
Andrew
