The average Major League Baseball season consists of 162 games spread out from the beginning of April to the end of September. And then the post-season games begin, that go through the month of October. There is no one on earth who enjoys the longevity of such a season than the teams who are winning on a consistent basis. And there is no one on earth who looks forward to a new season beginning than the teams who can't even win enough games to make it to the playoffs.
More specifically, imagine what life is like for the Major League hitter who finds himself in a drought that he cannot seem to pull himself out of. Take Bill Bergen, for example. Bill Bergen is a name not commonly known in our era, but he stood out in Major League Baseball from 1901 to 1911, though not for his talent. Bill was known simply for his complete inability to hit the ball. While it would be totally subjective to try to determine the worst hitter of all time, it is clear that Bill had the lowest batting average of all time for players who had over 2,500 at bats, finishing his career with an average of .170.
The ironic thing about Bill's story is that though we've just talked about how tough it was for him trying to hit consistently in Major League Baseball, Bill's story is a lot like life can sometimes be - multiple strike-outs, losses, and heartaches piled upon heartaches. And there are times when the only thing we have to look forward to is a new beginning, and in our case, a new year.
Perhaps this new year needs to be a new beginning in a number of areas for you. Maybe this is the year that you will see your goals come to fruition to lose that weight or to pursue that career endeavor. Maybe this is the year to restore that relationship that has been broken. Along with all of the things that are important to your heart and life this new year, we want to encourage you to make as one of your goals praying a simple prayer that we like to call the Three-Open Prayer. The motivation behind this prayer is the desire to see your friends and loved ones not have to go through another 365 days without a Savior.
The prayer goes something like this. "Lord, open a door." This simply means asking God to open a natural opportunity to speak to someone about your Savior. Secondly, "Lord open their heart." We desperately need God to be working on the other end of the equation opening up the heart of the person or people He wants you to talk to this year about Jesus. And third, "Lord, open my mouth." Boy, that's a tough one sometimes! But the beauty of this three part prayer is that you can be guaranteed it is God's will (Colossians 4:3-4).
With God's help and our diligence in asking Him for these things, this new year can be filled with promise that God is preparing to use you in ways that perhaps you've never dreamed, as you reach people who are desperate for a Savior. It may mean that this is the last year the lost around you have to face without the hope of Jesus.