Monday Morning Devotion-July 28, 2025
The Catcher
*8rewritten from July 2021
Cast all your anxieties upon Him for He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7
It's every boy's dream who plays baseball as a kid. Playing in the little leagues, on the
playground and at school every little guy can picture himself becoming a major leaguer
someday. And an even larger dream is to become a star player and play in the All Star Game.
At the midway point of the Major League Season the teams take a break to play the All
Star Game which features those players from both leagues who are having the best.season.
In the previous writing of this devotion the American League won They were managed
by a former catcher Kevin Cash. He caught 189 games in the Major Leagues before retiring to
Manage and was named Manager of the Year for leading the Tampa Bay Rays to the World
Series. I was privileged to broadcast his games at Florida State University (although he played
infield here).
At the same time FSU had a catcher Cal Raleigh called up to the Major Leagues (Seattle)
And now in the 2025 version Raleigh was the starting All Star Catcher for the American League.
Raleigh was the true verson of an all star. He came into this Mid Summer Classic leading both
Leagues with 38 home runs and proceeded to win the Home Run Derby that was contested the
night before the All Star game.
. I write all of this background info tosay that in baseball the catcher is a very important
position and provides the basis for today's devotion with some help from one I previously wrote
seven years ago.
Here goes from July 2021:
When I was a kid I experimented a lot, as kids are prone to do, especially when it came to
sports. I tried out different sports and different positions in each sport to determine not only what
I liked most, but what I was best at.
I quickly determined that the game I could play best was baseball. I also rapidly learned
that one position I would not end up playing was catcher. The catcher in a baseball game has a
tough job. That's easy to see. Just look at all the equipment he has to wear for protection.
As often is the case the bigger the risk taken the greater the reward attained. That is if
you succeed. Florida State University had a Georgia boy who came to school to play
baseball. Said he was a shortstop and a pitcher. And he was good--- very good!
His name was Buster Posey. After a year in the infield the coaches suggested that he
might want to switch to catcher, a position he had not played before. Being the nice guy that he
is he said, "OK."
The rest is history. As Major League catcher with the San Francisco Giants, Buster has
captured the fancy of baseball fans far and wide. He has enjoyed mega-success.
The point here is that a catcher is a very important person. That's why the opening line of
"Jesus Today" that I read recently caught my attention. Speaking through author Sarah Young,
Jesus tells us this:
"Cast all your cares on Me, for I am watching over you. I am actually a very good
Catcher, so throw me your cares---your anxieties and concerns---with abandon."
Sounds good to me. And it gets better. "As soon as you release those worrisome things,
you can breathe a sigh of relief and refresh yourself in My loving presence. It doesn't matter if
you have to do this many times each day---and sometimes during the night too. I am always
awake, ready to catch your cares and bear your burdens." Nice!
Without confidence in his catcher a pitcher will not succeed. He must trust his judgment
in calling signals so he will throw the right pitch at the right time to get the batter out. He must
believe that no matter what kind of pitch he throws that his catcher will catch it. They have to be
on the same page all the time. And to top it off his catcher must be strong.
Jesus says: "Because I am infinitely powerful. Bearing your burdens, does not weigh Me
down at all. In fact, I enjoy this game of catch very much because I see your load becoming
lighter and your face becoming brighter."
How about that? He not only is willing to help, in fact, take over those burdens and lighten
your load, but He wants to. He enjoys it. You are not putting Him out when you rely on Him
and turn those sticky situations over to Him.
Reading further: "No matter how much you throw at Me, I never miss! So refuse to let
your worries weigh you down. Remember that I am with you---ready to help with whatever you
are facing."
Beautiful! Sounds easy and it is°if you believe. You have to have faith and trust. Even
though that solution is not immediate it is imminent. It will happen. Just the fact that you turn it
over to Him should provide some quick peace of mind as you wait for Him to lead you through
or cause it to be resolved in some other manner.
I can think of many times in my life where I worried about something, and it kept on
nagging at me. I'm pretty much a guy who values an orderly existence. I like to have a place for
everything and have everything in its place as the old saying goes.
But simply having that kind of an outlook sometimes causes needless stress. And it can
build up to where it is barely manageable. That's when it is time to remember that you are not in
this ballgame alone. Whew! That's a great thought!
The game of life may have been progressing smoothly and you were making all the right
pitches. Suddenly the curveballs you were throwing at these problems start getting hit out of the
park. What happened? What to do?
"Instead of mulling over your problems, look to Him lightheartedly and say, 'Catch
Jesus!' Then fling your cares into My strong, waiting hands."
Just remember: "The Lord watches over you---the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm;
He will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and
forevermore." Psalm 121:5-8 (NKJV)
When a pitcher makes a wild pitch or crosses up his catcher and mistakenly throws a
pitch that was not signaled the catcher may not be able to catch it. If there were men on base
they may advance while he chases the ball down. If one of those runners was on third a run is
likely to score.
You can't make a pitch that is too wild for the Lord to catch. He knows your problems
before you even pitch them to Him. He wants to see your faith in action. He wants you to trust
Him and feel confident that He will catch your pitch and if something is stealing your happiness,
He will throw it out like a catcher throwing out a base runner trying to steal.
As the Psalmist writes (68:19) "Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily
bears our burdens."
Yes, a good catcher is invaluable and not just in baseball!
Monday Prayer: Thank you Lord for the confidence you build in us that you will catch and handle our difficulties in life. Amen!