An old Tennis Ball

Colossians 1:17

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.    -Paul

When I got home at 4:30 yesterday afternoon I took Andrew outside to gather sticks and logs for the fire. The orange sun setting across Bowker Field cast a glow on the bare trees and leaf strewn yard. After rotating the older wood to the left side of the pile we filled two aluminum wash tubs with cherry and maple. During this process we uncovered an old tennis ball. Andrew exclaimed, "Daddy, let's play catch!" I woke up in that moment.

Occasionally, we Americans have moments of sense where time slows down just enough for us to catch something real. In my case a longing for simplicity rushed into my soul. The cares and plans, the strategies and problems, all seemed to be chased away in the elemental activity we then began. In those few moments life was reduced from all its complexity down to a man, his boy and a ball we found by chance.

But, my theology and my experience prevent me from believing in randomness. It stands to reason that God, who knows how many hairs are on my head and senses when any bird falls to the earth (Mt. 10:29-31) is not just involved in the big newsworthy events. No, even the finding of a tennis ball is woven into the fabric of my life by the Grand Weaver (to borrow a term from Ravi Zacharaias). Have you ever stopped to wonder about things like this?

Trace this with me for a moment. By God's design, a tennis ball was ordained to give a mind weary man an opportunity to find simplicity. Therefore, the means by which the ball came to rest under the leaves was also the design of God. If we trace it back to the beginning and then work our way to the present it might go something like this: The tennis ball, molded in some country across the ocean, came to the U.S. by boat. The boat was most likely unloaded in Baltimore or New York. The ball, packaged with two others like it, was driven by truck to some store like Modell's, purchased by either a tennis player or a dog lover, taken to the park by my house, picked up by one of my children sometime last summer and misplaced. It was then forgotten until February fourth at 4:45pm in the year 2010. And to think the ball may have been made years ago and recently pulled out from under a couch!

Truly, the power to bring about this kind of intricate detail is awe inspiring. Who but God could do this? My response is like that of Job who said, "Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know." (v. 42:3)