Obeying the Voice
Because baseball is such an exciting part of the summer season, I am sharing in this space an excerpt from something my dad wrote for my blog in 2018 about one of his (and my!) favorite movies.
In the movie, Field of Dreams, Ray Kinsella heard a voice say, “If you build it he will come” and started construction on a major league baseball field in the middle of his corn farm after he was able to “see it” in his soul. Then he sat back and waited for his father’s baseball hero to show up, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson. However, Jackson had died almost 40 years earlier. It seemed crazy to believe but in the depths of his heart Ray knew to do one thing: Obey the Voice. So he did. But then he waited and waited as discouragement crouched at home plate.
Ray had to endure doubts, ridicule of peers, rejection, and self-condemnation. It reminds me of an obscure carpenter named Joseph who had a dream, believed an angel’s words that his fiancé was with child by the Holy Spirit, took her as his wife, traveled 70 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem, and watched God’s son enter our world among the kingdom’s special farm animals. It was risky. It was difficult. But, it was his obedience to the voice that changed the world.
As a believer in Jesus, I must listen for His voice daily. It comes through the written word, the spoken word, the taught word, and the courage to obey. God is speaking to all of us to take risks. Be kind to those who hate us. Be compassionate to those who judge us. Be forgiving to those who try to ruin our lives. Our dreams can become reality as God molds and shapes us through life’s difficult times knowing He is with us until the end of all.
One of his Dreamers,
Bill Duckworth