God's Coaching #172

God's Coaching #172

In 1943, baseball went pink. As World War II pressed many major leaguers into military duty and forced certain minor league teams to shut down, Chicago Cubs owner Philip K. Wrigley worried that the war would cripple his franchise, and maybe all of Major League Baseball. So Philip and other businessmen started the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The league ran from 1943 to 1954 and featured a 108-game regular-season schedule from mid-May to September 1, followed by the play-offs. At the height of its popularity in 1948, it boasted 10 teams playing at minor league ballparks throughout the Midwest and averaging several thousand fans a game.

League officials wanted players to retain their femininity and “all-American girl next door” image. So each player received a beauty kit and attended a mandatory charm school. Uniforms were one-piece short-skirted tunics. After 12 seasons, because of various social and economic factors, the league folded in 1954. But it remains a unique part of America’s baseball history.

What’s the Score?

Like the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, the Bible features many tales of women doing extraordinary things in difficult times. Ruth is one of those women. The book of Ruth tells an amazing account of human kindness and God’s sovereignty. When the husband and two sons of Ruth’s mother-in-law, Naomi, died (including Ruth’s husband), Ruth could have returned to her home country of Moab. But fearing for Naomi’s welfare as a widow, Ruth traveled with Naomi to her hometown in Judea.

Soon Ruth met Boaz, a distant relative of Naomi, who showed great kindness to the women and who eventually married Ruth. Boaz fulfilled the ancient kinsman-redeemer laws of Israel, where a man would marry a female relative in order to preserve the family line and land. Like Ruth, Boaz didn’t have to show kindness, but he did so abundantly. This caused great celebration in Naomi’s town (Ruth 4:14). Ultimately, because of Ruth’s and Boaz’s exceeding kindness toward others, Jesus’ ancestral family line remained intact. Boaz and Ruth had a son named Obed, the grandfather of King David, whose royal earthly line would one day include Jesus. In his wisdom, God used Ruth’s and Boaz’s compassion to ensure that his plan of salvation would eventually be fulfilled in the ultimate Redeemer, Jesus Christ!

On the Ball

Read the entire book of Ruth. Then surprise someone with an act of exceeding kindness.

Coach’s Comment

The women of the town said to Naomi, “Praise the LORD, who has now provided a redeemer for your family! May this child be famous in Israel.” Ruth 4:14