Tales From The Bullpen by Jared Cudd

I usually try to write my blogs on Sunday. There are times when I have the topics planned weeks in advance. Then there are other times, like today, when I have no idea really what I am going to write about that week. Somehow God always puts a thought in my head by someone or something somewhere that ends up being a topic to write on. Today was no different. I was sitting in church and our preacher, who is very good at giving thought provoking illustrations, spoke to me. Today he talked about Gordon Livingston. Although my writing here will not travel down the exact same path or make the exact same point as Aaron did this morning in his sermon, it sparked thought into my mind, which I’m sure was one of the points of the illustration.

Gordon Livingston was a lieutenant in the 82nd Airborne Division. He tells the story of a time when he was trying to orient himself on a field problem at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He said as he was studying the map his platoon sergeant, a veteran of many junior officers approached him. He asked Gordon, “You figure out where we are, lieutenant?” Gordon responded with, “Well, the map says there should be a hill over there, but I don’t see it.” The sergeant replied with, “Sir, if the map don’t agree with the ground, then the map is wrong.” Gordon said even at the time, he knew he had heard profound truth.

Now this can take on many different meanings to many different people I assume. But here’s where my mind went when I heard this. God lays our groundwork out for us. That consists of the Bible and what we know to be the ways of the Lord as Christians. So God’s way is the ground in this illustration. As Christians, we know right from wrong. We know what we are supposed to do (not that it is always easy to do or that we always do it). Just like when traveling, as we navigate through life sometimes we try and use a map. We search for things to get us through hard times. We feel lost and try to find answers. We look for ways to navigate through situations. We search for new ways to do things or the latest trends. We sometimes forget about the ground, the thing that is always there and never changes. We forget about God and his ways. We get caught up in trying to do things ourselves.

Here’s where the story of Gordon Livingston comes into play. The quote in his story, “If the map don’t agree with the ground, the map is wrong” has stuck in my head all day since I heard it this morning. Like I said, this may have many different meanings to many different people, but here is my take on it.

In our lives, sometimes we get to using the map. We get to trying to navigate through something in our lives by using something that is not really the answer. We break out our map and try to find our way. Well, guess what? Maps are man made. They can be helpful at times, but at the same time, can sometimes be hard to follow or understand. The biggest problem with using that map in our life is that the map we are using usually doesn’t agree with the ground. That map is usually the way the world tells us to deal with things. Trying to handle everything on our own is not what God wants us to do. Navigate through life our own way is not the way God wants us to be.

So there comes a time when we have to realize that our map doesn’t agree with the ground (God’s way) and so we have to be humble enough to realize that the map is wrong. We have to step back and realize that what we have been trying to chase down is not the right way or the best way. That is hard for us to do sometimes, but essential for us to realize that the ways of the world, the map we pull out and try to use, a lot of times does not agree with God’s way. That’s when we have to be bold enough to put away the map and get back to the ground.

I don’t know where you are right now, but I encourage you to check. Do we have our map out trying to navigate through life ourselves? Have we fallen for the ways this world tells us to deal with things? Is that the map we are following? Maybe we have been using that worldly map for awhile and haven’t taken the time to look up and see that the map doesn’t agree with the ground. If that is the case, it’s time for us to put the map away and get back to ground level with God and his ways. I promise that is a better solution than chasing the wrong solutions and the wrong things by looking at the map. We can’t always trust our maps, but there is one way we can always trust. It won’t ever change or lead us astray. We must follow our hearts and what we know is best and always stick to God’s way!

This post may offend some people, and if it does, well that’s just the world we live in. Some people can find something to be offended by with everything. That’s just what they do. So many people feel like they are entitled to be offended. So if this offends some people, well, that’s just the way it goes I guess. But this is something that has bothered me for a long time and it seems to be more and more prevalent every day.

When did we lose the ability to agree to disagree? You just don’t see it very often anymore. It is sad, heartbreaking, frustrating, and honestly incomprehensible how so many people can’t do this anymore. Agreeing to disagree is like the free throw in basketball or bunting in baseball. It is a lost art because it is not practiced very much by very many people anymore. Obviously when I say these things, everyone does not fall into this category. But, as time goes on, sadly I have discovered that more and more fall into this category all the time.

I’m going to refer to Covid briefly because that is unfortunately at the height of everyone’s thoughts again (But this applies to so many other things in life too, not just covid. So this is not a Covid debate post). Since Covid crept into our country, we have had differing of opinions about everything dealing with it. Whether or not to wear masks, whether or not to shut everything down, whether or not to get the vaccine, and so on and so on. Everyone has their opinions, and they are exactly that. Opinions. People feel strongly about what they believe. Here is the reality of it. You can find information on the great world wide web to support whatever your opinion is. You can find info from “experts” that say masks are useless or they will harm your health if used too much. Then you can find info that says masks are the greatest thing since sliced bread. Whatever side of the fence you are on, you will find supporting details on it.

If you believe it is better for us to shut down businesses and our economy to let this pass, you will find information that supports that. If you feel like staying open and gaining herd immunity though exposure is the best way to handle it, guess what, you can find information from people supposedly in the know that will tell you that you are right.

If you have the opinion that the vaccine is necessary to end this pandemic and that everyone should get it, you will find information that supports that belief. If you are skeptical of the vaccine and look for incidents to prove that people have had severe, life altering things happen as a result of the vaccine, that information is readily available to you as well.

Here is the bottom line. No one has ever dealt with Covid before. It is so new that any and all information gathered from the “experts” or the common folk alike, is speculation at best. You can say, “well my information is backed by science. There have been experiments and trials that say this is true.” The other side of that is that for every article that supports your opinion, you can find one with the exact opposite outcome that is supported by someone’s experiment or study itself. For anything you could tell me you believe about Covid, or anything dealing with politics or a number of other topics, I can find information that is the exact opposite of that and the people that present it make it seem believable (and I might agree with you, but I could still find some info for the other side). That is what they do. I have been guilty of believing some things like this as fact some too. We feel like what we are reading or listening to can’t be wrong. Then if we step back and look around at other information, we realize that people on the opposite side present their information and it is just as believable. They all have a job to do and will do whatever they can to sell it to us as facts.

Here’s what it boils down to. We all have to decide what we believe and do what we feel is best for ourselves and our families when it comes to everything in life. I have said since the beginning of Covid that I don’t think differently or look down on anyone for their opinions about anything on Covid, because the reality is none of us know what is absolutely true and what is not. None of us have ever dealt with it before. There’s not enough science available yet to prove anything as fact (or if there is, science has proven both sides of any argument to be true). You just have to have confidence that what you believe and choose to do is right for your family and your situation.

The same can be said about politics, religion, or any other controversial topic. Yes, I am going there. I’m not going to get into a political or spiritual debate. I believe what I believe. You are free to believe what you believe. That is the beauty of this country and the principles it was built on. We are all free to believe what we choose. If you want to know more about my beliefs and why, just ask me and I would be happy to share that. But, I am not going to look down on you or think less of you because you don’t agree with me.

At some point, we fell into this trap of thinking that if someone didn’t share the same beliefs as us, they were stupid, dumb, or that we had the right to criticize them or look down on them. If someone doesn’t see things the way we do, they are beneath us and just plain wrong and it is our job to tell them how lousy of a person they are.

The burning question I have is when did we get away from agreeing to disagree. It is a great concept if you think about it. People can think as they wish. They can believe as they believe. And the crazy thing is we can all still be friends too. The sad part of the other side of the fence is that I have literally seen friendships end due to differing opinions over Covid, politics, religion, lifestyle, or whatever else the case may be. Why? Why has it came to this? Where did this school of thought come from? I’m not sure, but we need to get back to the way God wants us to be, because the way things are currently going is not the way God commands us to be.

Simply put, there is only 1 person that has all the answers, and I promise He doesn’t treat people any different or look at anyone any different or love anyone any less because of our opinions or the things we do. Thank goodness that is true! We could really learn a lot from that person. That person being God. He wants all of us to love Him and love each other. After all, that is the greatest commandment He gives us (Mark 12:28-31). It’s funny how so many things that we can talk about come back to that concept. The reason is because those two things, loving God and loving people, encompass so many things. If we can master those two things, so many other things fall into place.

So I encourage everyone to get back to the basics of agreeing to disagree. That doesn’t mean that you accept their beliefs or way of doing things. That doesn’t mean that those things have to become your own. It just means that you are doing what God commands us to do. Love God. Love people. Love them for what they are. You don’t have to agree with them or what they do, but love the person anyway and treat them with respect. We have gotten away from loving each other because just like free throws and bunting, agreeing to disagree and loving people is a lost art!!!

This week I did a video on the platform Crossing Home. It is a platform that is being used to reach people all over the world. I encourage you to check it out. Like it on facebook and subscribe to the youtube channel. It is a great ministry that has a chance to impact a lot of people and plant a lot of seeds all around the world. There is a new video from different people each Sunday morning. Don’t be afraid to tell your story. Don’t be afraid to spread the good news of Jesus to those around you. Everyone has a story. Never think that yours won’t impact someone, because it will. Have a great week and God bless!!!