Whew! I am glad the baseball season is over. I am not sure my heart and my head could take much more after Wednesday night’s extra inning, game 7. Most of you know what happened, the Chicago Cubs after 108 years won the World Series. It was the longest championship “drought” of any sports team…ever.

I know you didn’t come to this article to read the sports section or hear about my favorite team. As you might have guessed, I tend to think about things through the lens of theology. I think about God a lot.

You might think my enthusiasm for the Cubs is recreational or even despicable—I get that. However, I have been thinking about my slight devotion to the Cubs in a different way.

Before I proceed, if it is easier for you to insert another team or another sport, be my guest.

I realized that my support for this baseball team is a microcosm of my faith in God.

(Disclaimer: my faith in God is far and away the most important thing to me. I am not making them equal in any way, shape or form.)

When I think back to the last World Series win in 1908, there has been a lot of waiting. My grandfather who lived in that neighborhood was 4 years old in 1908. He grew up a Cubs fan because Wrigley Field was within walking distance of his home. I am sure soon after that series of 1908 there were hopes that another World Series win would not be far behind.

There was optimism and faith that this team could win and go all the way by many who lived, died and believed that this would happen again one day. There were even prophets like Harry Caray who said at the end of 1991 season, “Sure as God made green apples. Someday the Chicago Cubs are going to be in the World Series.” And there were others too numerous to mention.

Many like myself, believed and waited. There were good times and a lot of bad times. There are years that stand out as “the worst of times.” (1945, 1969, 1984, 1989, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2015) Some of those years were worse than others. Heartbroken, we still believed. Halley’s Comet has come and gone twice since 1908.

Many of us became Cub fans because a previous generation or two had passed that love on to us and we promised to carry that torch forward as they could no longer wait for “that day” to arrive.

Then on Wednesday, November 3^rd 2016 the Cubs won their first World Series since 1908.

However, being a Cubs fan has prepared me for something greater… waiting on God and waiting for God.  “Keeping the faith” is a hard thing to do in this broken world. There are times we want to throw up our hands and give up or give in. It is faith that stops me from quitting. 2 Corinthians 5:7 reminds me that, “We live by faith, not by sight.”

This faith that God has given me was in part passed down from that same grandfather that grew up in the shadow of Wrigley Field (which was partially built on the grounds of a Lutheran seminary). He never gave up on God (or the Cubs).

As the Cubs made their final out, I couldn’t help but think of those who waited for this day like my grandpa Carlson who kept the faith and the prophets who never saw their prophecies to come fruition. That was who I was thinking about as the Cubs won. There was elation but also some sadness too.

As we approach All Saint’s Sunday, I am joyful knowing that God provided a way for all His children to be with Him in heaven, but sad that we cannot share in that relational connection in all its fullness right now. I can’t help but think of the Old Testament prophets who pointed to the coming Savior but did not live long enough to see their prophecy come to fruition or the faithful millions who passed on the faith to the next generation with the promise that one day Jesus will return to fix all that has gone wrong.

Being a fan of this baseball team is like being at spring training for the “real season.” The season of following God and waiting on Him. I have learned patience and persistence along the way. I know that I can wait until Jesus’ return even if it seems an eternity away. Waiting can make you doubt, but keeping the faith until the end will be joyfully sweet.

Don’t give up, because God is for us.  And “if God is for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31b

God bless,
Pr. Ben