Email Rev. Randy Maynard

Randy's Ramblings:

Most of you know that I enjoy sports.  I coached various sports when I was a high school teacher for a couple of years in the state of Ohio.  My first love has always been baseball.  Growing up I envisioned myself one day playing first base for the Cincinnati Reds.  That day, of course, never came but I still remain a “die-hard” Cincinnati Reds fan. 

I did play high school baseball.  During my senior year I was mired in a prolonged hitting slump.  I wasn’t striking out but the contact I made with my bat usually produced weak ground balls, or lazy fly balls, which resulted in easy outs for the opposition.

My father had a copy of the book How to Hit which  was written by Johnny Mize.  Like me, Mize was a first baseman.  He played 17 years for various major league teams and in 1981 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.  His career batting average was .312 (which was exceptional). I began to read Mize’s book and he wrote that the few times he was in a batting slump he would simply return to the fundamentals of hitting.  He mentioned that after he would refresh himself with the basic fundamentals then his hitting stroke would return.  I took Mize’s advice and I began to review the fundamentals concerning the batting stroke that I had been taught down through the years.  In our next game I had three hits in four at bats and I ended the year hitting pretty well. 

I write this to tell you that I’ve been in a slight spiritual slump.  I haven’t been as close to God as I’ve needed to be and my spiritual energy has been dragging.  Maybe it’s because times are hectic as I’m writing this two weeks before Christmas.

Maybe it’s due to needing my spiritual batteries recharged, I don’t know but I’m definitely in a slump.  I know what I ought to do.  I need to focus on the spiritual fundamentals.  For me that would mean that I should spend more time in prayer, study the Bible more than just for sermon preparation, spend quiet time with God listening for the Holy Spirit’s direction and observe a true Sabbath.  Too often I find myself like the apostle Paul who wrote to the church at Rome, “For I do not do what I want,” (Romans 7:15).  So I’m asking for your prayers for God to help me get back to the basic fundamentals that are required for me to break this slump.

Maybe as you read these words you too are in a spiritual slump but even if you aren’t it is always good to be fundamentally sound in the Christian faith.  One of the ways to help with your spiritual fundamentals is to participate in a Bible study.  Elsewhere in this newsletter you will read about the Disciple Bible Study classes that we are offering starting in January.  If you haven’t taken Disciple I then I would urge you to prayerfully contemplate being part of this new class.  If you have taken Disciple I then Disciple II and Disciple IV are being offered as well.  In other words, here are some wonderful studies that will help to keep you fundamentally sound in your spiritual life.  If you just absolutely can’t commit to the amount of time devoted to these classes then beginning later in the winter we will be offering a series of 8-10 week, short-term, Bible studies.  

Additionally, with another year upon us this brings new excitement.  Even though, as I write this column, I may feel a little “blah,” I’m very much looking forward to what God has in store for us as a congregation in 2009.  I do hope that you will make a commitment to uphold Saint Andrews UMC with your prayers, your presence, your gifts, your service and your witness  After all those are the basic fundamentals that we all need to consistently practice!  I’ll look forward to seeing you here at the place where the basic fundamentals are cherished.

Randy