Somehow I was asked and made a commitment to be an assistant coach on Sam's team this season at Cove Creek (though my experience in playing baseball is limited!). I was also asked to do the annual prayer for the 15th annual Opening Ceremonies. I'm not completely sure how I feel about prayers for these kinds of public events, but I tried to make it as Jesus-centered as possible. Cove Creek Commissioner John Grisham introduced me as the "guest pray-er." Here's the prayer:
Gracious and loving God,
You are the Giver of every good and perfect gift. The Psalmist tells us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made by you. You have given us sport and recreation for our health and for our good pleasure.
Today we especially thank you for baseball and the enjoyment it brings both on the field and in the bleachers. As we stand on the threshold of a new season, we thank you in particular for Cove Creek Park, and we seek your blessing on all that will happen here.
We thank you for the benefactors, administrators, and staff who have made this field of dreams a reality once again this year.
We thank you for the parents, coaches, fans, and officials who will provide the support, instruction, encouragement, and order that will be needed here.
We especially thank you for these young athletes—our own sons and daughters. We ask you to guard their physical safety. We ask that you help them to honor their parents and to extend proper respect to their coaches and officials. We ask that you would enable them to strive for excellence in proportion to their abilities, to be just in competition, generous in victory, and noble in defeat. Help us to do all things to your glory.
We thank you for the benefactors, administrators, and staff who have made this field of dreams a reality once again this year.
We thank you for the parents, coaches, fans, and officials who will provide the support, instruction, encouragement, and order that will be needed here.
We especially thank you for these young athletes—our own sons and daughters. We ask you to guard their physical safety. We ask that you help them to honor their parents and to extend proper respect to their coaches and officials. We ask that you would enable them to strive for excellence in proportion to their abilities, to be just in competition, generous in victory, and noble in defeat. Help us to do all things to your glory.
Finally, help us to remember what Jesus taught us in the Great Commandment, that the two most important things we can ever do in this life are to love you with every fiber of our being and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Let that show in our attitude toward you and toward each other in this place this season.
We ask this in Christ’s name, Amen.
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