The Dread of the ninth. Hope dwindling with each out. I stood high in the upper deck of the K with my sister. A season ticket holder, she gave me the ticket. Then Gordon’s swing. The crack of the bat. The ball blistered and sailing. We screamed and cheered. Dread sailed with the ball, Hope filled the stadium!

Gordon announced he is retiring. So the swing fills my mind. It is my best memory among many as a Royal’s fan.

We are living in a moment full of dread. Unfortunately one person will not swing the tension. The election is spewing hate and division. Covid overhangs everything. Other problems, masked for so long, have been revealed. The temptation is to swing our bats in attack.

But the call of God is to bring hope home. Not just into our home, but into the crowds all around us.

This Sunday we start a new series on the Flock and Shepherds. In Ezekiel 34 the prophets laments the lost flock. The shepherds care for themselves, but the flock is “scattered for lack of a shepherd… food for every beast… there was no one to search or seek for them” (v5-6). [Join Chandler Sunday at 10:30, in person or online!]

Who can you search for today? How can you bring Hope into their lives? Mail a card. Drop by a tasty treat. Send them a link to Gordo’s homer… swing their tension away with acts of love!