In the summer of '99, the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY welcomed several new inductees. Among the notables were Nolan Ryan (pitcher for 27 years, all-time strikeout king and thrower of a record 7 games when batters failed to get a hit off of him), Robin Yount (amassed more than 3,000 hits in a 20+ year career), and George Brett of the Kansas City Royals, who had over 3,000 hits in his career and in 1980 hit for an average of .390, the highest single-season average since 1941.
Most professional ball players dream of capping off a successful career with a 400 foot home-run at their last at bat, like Ted Williams did. When a reporter asked George Brett what he wanted to do in his last at bat, he said, "I want to hit a routine grounder to second and run all out to first base, then get thrown out by half a step. I want to leave an example to the young guys that that's how you play the game: all out."
George Brett was driven to perform his job to the best of his ability, playing as hard as he could all the way to his final day of playing professional baseball. God calls us to have a similar drive and determination in serving Him.
Hebrews 12:1-2 describes the drive we are to have within us when we are told to "...throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles us, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
We may never be enshrined in a Hall of Fame, but when our race on earth is completed and our work here is done, we have an even greater prize awaiting us with our Heavenly Father.
