The Gospel According to Baseball

Baseball isn’t just a game, it’s life in nine innings. In this episode, Tony (the proud Dodgers fanatic) and Robert (the loyal Braves man) step up to the mic to talk about the 2025 World Series, the greatest Game 7 in recent memory, and how baseball mirrors the beauty and struggle of life itself.

From perseverance and momentum swings to heartbreak and jubilation, this conversation is about more than home runs; it’s about hope that never dies, the moments that change everything, and the grace to keep stepping up to the plate.

Whether you’re a die-hard fan or just love a good story, this episode will make you laugh, reflect, and maybe believe that baseball, like faith, is poetry in motion.

Because sometimes, the best sermons are preached from the dugout.

Grab your sweet tea, pull up a chair on the porch, and join the conversation.

#ThePulpitAndPorch #Dodgers #BaseballAndFaith #Game7 #LifeLessons #NeverQuit #HopeAndHeartbreak #PoetryInMotion #FaithAndFandom #DodgerBlue #BravesCountry #FromThePorch #BaseballIsLife

Episode Transcript

(00:03):
Welcome back to the Pulpit and Porch.
Today is a special episode The Dodgers brought home the 2025
World Series and one of the mostridiculous, dramatic, heart
pounding game sevens in baseballhistory.
But baseball isn't just a game. It's poetry in motion,
heartbreak in innings, and hope swinging at the next pitch.

(00:24):
Now, before we get too deep, letme acknowledge that one of your
humble porch hosts, Robert, is being forced to sit here while
we celebrate my team. As a Braves fan, he's showing
incredible faith, maturity, and maybe just a little emotional
numbness. But here's why we're talking
about baseball today. Because baseball isn't just
innings and stats. It's momentum, heartbreak, hope,

(00:47):
grit, and learning to breathe again after A32 count with
runners on 2nd and 3rd, baseballis life in nine innings, or
maybe 18 if it's game three of the World Series.
And in this episode, we're looking at the Dodgers win not
just as fans, but as people trying to persevere, stay
hopeful, and keep swinging in life.
So grab your sweet tea if you'rea Dodgers fan.

(01:09):
Raise it up if you're a Blue Jays fan.
Just breathe. We're gonna laugh, maybe cry a
little, and definitely learn something along the way.
Whether you root for the Dodgers, the Braves, or no team
at all, there's something here for anyone who's ever dared to
hope. Welcome to the pulpit and porch.
I'm Tony Maher and with me, as always, is my friend Robert
Kell. Hey everybody, we are so glad

(01:30):
you're here. The pulpit and porch is where we
kick back, put up our feet and have real conversations about
life, faith, growth, and maybe even a little sports and pop
culture. If you're looking for a
perfectly polished sermon, you're probably in the wrong
place. Yeah, around here it's more
about those honest heart to heart conversations, like the
one you have on a front porch with good friends.
Sometimes we stay on track, sometimes we take the same

(01:51):
group. And honestly, that's half the
fun, isn't it? We dig into the highs, the lows,
and all the in betweens of living out your faith in real
life. Along the way, we may pull up a
few extra chairs and invite somefriends under the porch to share
stories and ideas that just may change the way that you see
things. So whether you're chasing your
purpose, building your faith, orjust trying to live a little
more fully, pull up a chair, grab some sweet tea, and join

(02:12):
us. This is the pulpit and porch we
got to see waiting for you. From the South Bay to the
valley, from the West side to the east side, everybody's very

(02:37):
happy because the sun is shiningall the time.
Looks like another perfect day. I love LA.
We love it, now we don't. Let's go, Dodgers.
People in LA don't even love LA.Little Randy Newman to start the
show, Yeah. I have no clue.

(02:59):
So if people at home are sittingand wondering, by the way,
there's no one still listening to this.
But if the seven people who are thank you and the people are
wondering, how do I get to talk about the most useless topic on
the planet? Start your own podcast and then
you too can talk about mind knowingly useless information

(03:20):
for what is probably going to beour shortest episode ever.
I think this may be our longest episode ever.
This could turn into an entire series.
It will be my shortest episode. This could be you will finish
this one on your own. This could be the start of a
whole new podcast, a whole new show right here, starting right
now. You, you texted me.

(03:41):
At the Dodgers dugout. I know I'm out for sure.
Yeah, I will dig my way out. Shawshank Redemption type stuff
here. I need somebody to like put a
file in the cake or something that you bring me.
You you emailed, I guess the thescript over and and you were
talking about, oh, we're going to do this, this and this.
And I responded back and I was like, I don't know if you

(04:03):
overestimate my, my actual passion for some of these things
or if you really don't realize how like absurdly crazy you are
in moments about sports and about teams that you love and,
and the things with that and so.I should take offense to that,

(04:26):
but I don't in any way. In fact, I wear it as a badge of
honor. That's why I said it like I
thought about not saying it. I'm going.
Tony would be. There is no way that he would
not be proud that I'm like, you are like almost, you know,
compulsively obsessive about your, your, your.
Almost cancelled basketball practice on Monday to watch the

(04:49):
celebration parade that started at 2:00.
Eastern Time. Did you DVR?
I didn't. Record it.
Yeah, OK, I recorded it. I was.
Gonna say I was like that would be sad.
That would have been sad if you would.
Have done that, yeah. But there's some things that are
just better live, like a celebration parade.
Would you, if your team won a championship, would you brave

(05:13):
the craziness to go to the parade?
I. Think it depends on who.
I probably wouldn't. I don't know if I would for the
Cowboys, probably would for the Celtics and I know my family

(05:37):
would for the Braves, but I probably wouldn't for any of it.
It doesn't mean that really it doesn't.
Mean I wouldn't do the parade. It would doesn't mean that I
wouldn't do the parade. I wouldn't drive several.
Million people in downtown lining the streets that you're
probably not even going to see anything anyways.
I, I would, I would, I don't like crowds.

(05:58):
I would not do that. Now.
They did the parade route that there were several million
people that line the parade route, and then they finished at
Dodger Stadium and Dodger Stadium was sold out.
Not a single seat for the team to come in, stand on the stage,
hold up the trophy, players spoke.
You make it sound like every stadium wouldn't sell out, but

(06:20):
they would all sell out do. You think they would all 55,000
people pack into a stadium for a45 minute yes ceremony?
Absolutely they would. I don't think so.
Every team at that point in time, yeah, because you all have
the money to buy, like the Yankees, an entire team.
And that makes it so much easierfor you to beat smaller market
teams and next year. I was talking with a buddy of

(06:41):
mine yesterday. I was playing basketball and
we'd finished up. We're just standing in the
parking lot chatting for a couple of minutes before we
left. And Dave and I were talking.
And he was just like, that was like, yeah, they'll they'll be,
they'll buy Paul Skeens next year.
And that's who will replace Clayton in the five man
rotation. And so you'll have, you know,

(07:03):
Glass now Snell, Otani, Yamamotoand Skeens will be your 5th
pitcher and. I wouldn't object.
Well, I mean, it's just like the, you know, the money's
there. I will say the coolest stat I've
seen, and I'm sure you'll have abillion things, is this is
Magic's 15th LA title and he won10 as a player and owner of the

(07:26):
Lakers. He won one as a owner of the
WNBA team. He won the Sparks.
He won one as owner of LAFC, theMLS team, and then he's won
three as a owner of the doctors and so I thought that was a cool
stat. 15 titles by one guy in one city and he's won 16 total.

(07:46):
He won one with Michigan State as well when he was a college
player for basketball. How about the stat that no team
has won back-to-back World Championships in 25 years?
Yeah. I mean, it's it's a very hard
thing to do. I mean how?
About the stat that no team has ever won back-to-back World
Championships on the road. Yeah, I mean there there's that

(08:07):
again, baseball is just a a complicated game.
And I know they say that's why you play the games, but I mean
you literally have you know, youcan see a #5 pitcher go out and
go up against the number one andthat and I understand all these
guys that I actually am not going to say that the the
difference is small. The difference between Paul
Skeens and the what would be thelowest rated #5 pitcher in Major

(08:32):
League Baseball right now? And if you're listening to this
and you even remotely care, mostteams run A5 pitcher rotation
and so your pitchers only pitch every five games.
Some teams have a little more depth and do a little bit more,
or maybe if it's a really important game, they'll have a
guy go at a game early or something like that.
And so 5 into 162, these guys pitch 30 games a year, 3035

(08:55):
games a year, not counting playoffs.
And so, you know, you get a likethe the gap between Skeens,
Otani, that level of pitcher, which those two guys would be in
the top five pitchers I would say in Major League Baseball
right now. Scooble, is that his name with
Detroit? Yeah, those guys top five.
Top ten, maybe a Dodger next. Year yeah, that's The thing is

(09:15):
you'll you guys will get rid of snail, which you should and
bring in scooble and skeens and and just, you know, lock it in
the that's the new the new Dodgers farm system and and you
take the the lowest 10 rated pitchers there's not they're not
even close. I mean it's not even close.
But on any given day, the the fastballs got a little more pop

(09:38):
to it, the locations a little bit stronger, this off speed
pitch in the breaking balls havea little more movement.
And you can watch a guy that is going to win 12 games this year,
9 games this year with a 3 ERA go out and have a perfect game,
no hitter. And so baseball, you know

(09:59):
something, you know, how can younot be romantic about baseball?
I mean, it's just a really, it'sa really beautiful game.
I do love sports. I did watch part of me, Brody
Colby especially watch part of every game just about I think.
And yeah, it was. It was a lot of fun.

(10:19):
It was the best World Series I've ever seen and, and I
haven't missed a World Series inmy lifetime that I can remember.
And it was. It was the best World Series
I've ever seen. I have a hard time remembering
back to when Toronto won their last World Series and some of
those things. There was some really good, some
Game 7 heroics. A lot of there was a lot of
really good baseball I think in the 90s that was there.

(10:43):
I feel like the last, this was definitely the best World Series
and I would have to look it up. But in the last, I was going to
say in the last decade, but in the last five years, because
honestly, most of the most of them have been a little bit
lopsided. They they like just things
didn't last year. The Yankees were an
embarrassment to baseball most of the time, which I'm not

(11:05):
really a Yankees fan. So, you know, to me they're they
can be an embarrassment. Doesn't affect my life.
But teams the Phillies kind of dominated a year or two, just
really embarrassed some teams. It's just been not been the best
series. This was absolutely I mean, they
never got to Yamamoto. He absolutely deserved MVP, but

(11:30):
they they got to some of the better pitchers in the league
and, and I, I just thought it was, it was just a, it was
really good baseball. Every game of the seven games
could have gone to either team. Every one of them were were
close and there were so many moments.
Game 6 and game seven, we won't even talk about the 18 inning

(11:52):
game that took place in game three, just Game 6 and game
seven. There were so many moments that
we just looked at each other andsaid, did that really just
happen on both sides for both teams?
And I've read so many things from people saying I'm not even
a baseball fan and I couldn't, Icouldn't take my eyes off of

(12:15):
this. I had a guy that I know who is
texting me after game. I don't remember if it was Game
6 or Game 7 at the end of it, someone that I don't hear from
very often. And they just started texting me
saying I've never watched baseball before.
And I am glued to the TV for this.
This is the I'm a baseball fan now.
This is our all games like this.Like no.

(12:35):
Most of them are way worse than this.
It was just phenomenal. And the, the emotional roller
coaster, I even found myself saying that there was it, things
were not looking good for the Dodgers in Game 7.
And I found myself saying to myself, you know what, I'm proud

(12:55):
that we made it here. And I, I'm just thankful that I
got to watch this, that I got tosee this and be a part of this
because this is something win orlose, this is something that I
will, we will remember this series.
We will remember this game four years to come.
And then one swing of the bat, 1poor base running play by a Blue

(13:18):
Jays player and an incredible play by Rojas.
And and like we maybe did that. Did I really just see that?
Am I dreaming? Did that really just happened?
Did Pahez really catch the ball?And it just turned and even
Kershaw was warming up in the bullpen to come in and all of a
sudden every go, everyone goes running.
And he said, I looked and said, wait, we won.

(13:42):
I, I couldn't believe we just won that game.
And so now I'm sprinting out of the bullpen heading towards the
diamond. And like, did we really just
win? And the players getting on the
bus after the champagne and the celebrations and all that.
And they said, we're still sitting there.
Like, did that really just happen?
Did we really just win that game?
It was so poetic and so cinematic in in what happened

(14:06):
and heartbreaking for Blue Jays fans.
And yet anyone who's a fan of a great story, I think that it was
monumentally epic. I'm glad we won.
I'm going to be very little helpin this episode because again, I
think you probably underestimatehow little this type of like it.

(14:28):
I'm I'm more of AI enjoy when myteam wins.
The sun comes up tomorrow. There's way more important stuff
in life. And so I don't, I don't, I don't
buy merch. I don't go get things like it's
anything in my house that that would be considered merch.
I'm 95% of it. I did not buy it was something

(14:51):
that just through incredible generosity or just luck of the
draw, I I came across and landedand and it was something that
was there So like not yet you've.
Devoted a major portion of your life and of your time over the
last probably decade to the gameof baseball.
You've spent more time at a baseball diamond than most

(15:13):
people would in their entire lifetime.
Yeah, I mean, I enjoy watching my kids do things that they
love. But like, you know, from the
perspective of it gets very complicated where we live, It's
hard to watch my team play. Like you can't.
You can't hardly get to see the Braves play when you live now

(15:34):
anymore. And cable companies and all
these things are fighting over who gets what and where and
when. And, and I'm not one of these
people that I'm just going to gochange who my subscriber is so I
can watch 12 baseball games throughout a year because I'm
not you like you watch, if the Dodgers play 162 games, you'll
see 155 of them. And that is not that is not me.

(15:57):
And so I, I don't know that I have watched 162 games in the
last decade of Braves baseball, but so, yeah, so.
And that's me. I don't care.
I catch no Sports Center. I'll keep up with scores.
The boys and I talk about it a little bit.

(16:18):
But as far as just like I'm going to lock in and I'm giving
up that much time to watch all that and do that and stay up
late, all this stuff. Yeah, I don't, I don't do a ton
of that. I've said many times before on
this show, it's my therapy. It really is.
I know that no matter how a day is gone, at ten O 5 Eastern Time

(16:40):
I can flip on Sportsnet LA or the MLBTV app and Joe Davis and
Orel Hirscheiser are going to greet me and I'm going to have
the next few hours just to sit and spend with friends.
It also helps that your games come on when your life is over.
Very true. Like if.
I've often thought it was a curse and I hated it, but the

(17:03):
older I've got I've thought thatif that wasn't the case I
wouldn't be catching 150 of the 162 games because life wouldn't
allow that when the game starting at 7.
Yeah. I mean, you start playing at
7:00 or 8:00 and I mean, there'sstill a lot.
I mean, there's days that dinneris barely happening at 7.
And so, yeah, it's just a different kind of space and and

(17:26):
some things there. So, but yeah, so I know I'm I'm,
I'm down for the conversation. I'm just going to be way less
help than maybe you want. I can turn it on.
I can be angsty and angry as as like as my bid for the day, like
stupid Dodgers. They're just the worst.
So I still do remember our episode where I said that the

(17:48):
Dodgers and you're like, we havethe best farm team.
And I'm like, you've bought mostof your team.
You're like, no, we haven't. And you were just going crazy
over that. And you were like going in,
pulling up rosters, losing your mind, and now I'm going.
You do realize? What changed it all was
20/18/2018 in the World Series. We weren't doing this podcast in

(18:09):
20. 2018 World Series against the Houston asterisks.
We, we were completely home grown.
Our team was home grown and Houston cheated and used a trash
can to beat us in the World Series.
And our, our ownership group said, all right, some things
have to change. And from then we, we got Mookie,

(18:29):
we got Freddie, he retooled our pitching rotation and then we
got the big fish. We landed show.
Hey, but 20/18/2017 World Series2018 World Series We we were a
home grown team. We really were.
I mean, I, I think the Braves have had one of the top farm

(18:50):
systems for decades and the vastmajority of our players are our
players. And just like everybody, the
world's changing as as far as sports go.
And so like when you look at like college sports and you
think NIL meant I was talking tosomeone who coaches high school

(19:13):
sports and they were talking about NIL money that they would.
And I'm just going, this is insane to me.
And so so, you know, like with college sports, I mean, there
was you and I have talked about this.
You know, I don't think we talked about it on the air, but
there was a college quarterback that we were both watching early
in the season. And he says he's his sixth

(19:36):
college team in six years and hehe got some of the COVID year
things and stuff like that, but he's on his sixth team.
And so the world is different and that's translating to pro
sports as well. And so players are not going to
Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, this thing and spend their entire
career with one team. They're you're not going to see

(19:58):
that. Yeah, I mean, you're not going
to see that kind of stuff happen.
Chipper Jones type things and stuff like that where guys just
spend. All of these decades with one
team and, and then, and then they find ways just like Magic
to stay involved in his community with sports and things
like that. So, you know, I, I don't know

(20:20):
that that it's going to be realistic to look and go, oh,
people have great farm teams. I think having a great farm team
now will mean that you you draftand, and develop good players so
that you can trade them for great players.
And I think that's just going tobe the new face of of sports in

(20:40):
general, except for football, because they don't, they don't
really have a farm system in that, but everything else does.
Yeah, and if you've made it thisfar in this episode, we're not
going to spend our entire time today analyzing and breaking
down the Dodgers World Series victory.
We are going to talk because I think there's incredible
parallels between baseball and life.
In fact, I think that baseball is a great metaphor for life and

(21:04):
and so Robert may be a Braves fan, but today he's reluctantly
going to learn some life lessonsfrom a Dodgers fan.
You can't. You need the boss to me.
You can't force me to learn anything.
You're going to learn some things today, maybe maybe have
some self discovery and maybe walk out of here a little bit
more passionate about the greatest American pastor.
We had a camera. You would see me giving a big

(21:25):
thumbs down to everything you'vejust said.
Robert, how do you think that that you you may not stay up all
night watching 18 innings of a World Series game, but how does
rooting for a team that you loveAnd you have teams that you
love. You love the the Braves, you
love the the football team in Dallas that can't win a game.

(21:48):
You love the Boston Celtics who should have been relegated this
season because of injuries. But how does rooting for a team
that you love mirror kind of theups and downs that we experience
in life? I mean, I think you can speak to
this. I mean it, it's just like you
talked about with that hit a fewminutes ago.

(22:08):
I mean, everything can feel really, really hopeless or
everything can feel really, really hopeful.
And, and then with the, you know, the tick of the clock,
the, you know, the, the waking of a new day and I'm, you know,
I'm not going to do anything. But, you know, you went to bed
very normally a few nights ago and woke up or was awakened by

(22:32):
your phone to things that just changed.
You know, a lot of our lives at a very, very high level pretty
quickly. And, and, and not in the, not in
the best of, of ways. And, and I think that's the
thing about, about life that mirrors sports is you can have,
you can feel super, super hopeful and you can feel like
that everything's under control.And you can watch things start

(22:55):
to chip away a little bit and you move in an, in a negative,
you know, things move into the to a negative view all of a
sudden, or they move into a lossor that you start to be trailing
in the game. And then you can be trailing and
you can feel like you're behind.You can feel like the world and
life and everything else is against you.

(23:15):
And you can step into a moment and just one little thing
happens and another thing happens and you can see a whole
lot of of victory and and success start to go.
And I'll say this. And then I'm intrigued to hear
how you wrap your brain around it.
The thing about all of that in my brain is that process through

(23:37):
it is when you think about athletes is they get to do this
all day, every day. This is their life.
But it started when they were a little kid.
Like I love hearing Freddie Freeman's story and he, you
know, former Brave player now with the Dodgers and, and just
you, you hear his story and he would have an entire practice
and he would practice with his team would be on the field.

(23:59):
And they are like the coach would pull everybody over.
And they said while the coach was having the meeting, his dad
would walk out, roll the L screen, set up the buckets of
balls and he and Freddie would start working.
And, and, and there's so many guys that you hear that story
with their, with their dad or a brother or an uncle, something
by like that, that invested in them in their community.

(24:21):
And then sometimes you hear like, Hey, I didn't have
anybody. Life was kind of against me.
Things were hard, but I found some real hope inside of this
one particular sport. And so I was like, I'm just
going to commit my life to this.And so they, if it's baseball,
they got a tee out or they got apainted some squares on a wall
and, and marked off 60 feet 6 inches.
And they started throwing a baseball or they get a, a net or

(24:45):
a board and, and a hockey puck and they just start working.
And, you know, it's just those types of things and you hear
these stories. And so I think the reality comes
down to is in life, I have almost never, if ever, seen a
whole lot of success come from that chipping away that didn't

(25:06):
start with work before. And so for me, one of the things
I love about sports is seeing people's months, weeks, years of
dedication and effort rise to the top.
And that natural instinct of just, hey, here's here's what
I've done. And the muscle memory kind of
kicks in and, and it kind of goes from there.

(25:29):
So anyway, I'm intrigued to hearhow, how you see, you know, some
of those things and. I you said it exactly how I
would say. I think that every fan signs up
for uncertainty and in life, life is full of so much
uncertainty in baseball, sports in general, just like life, are
hope mixed with heartbreak. And and yet even in that, we

(25:54):
keep coming back again and againand again, A heartbreaking loss.
You tune in the next night because there's hope that things
could be different. When things go wrong in life,
when life breaks your heart, youkeep coming back, you keep
putting 1 foot in front of the other, you keep going.
One of my favorite my, my all the person who made me fall in

(26:17):
love with the game of baseball outside of my dad was Vin
Scully. And I think Vin Scully is the
greatest sports broadcaster ever.
And I love Vin Scully's words that he would close out the the
end of a season. And I'm just going to read it.
I'm just going to read you his quote.
He would close out the season and say, May God give you for

(26:40):
every storm a rainbow, for everytear, a smile, for every care, a
promise and a blessing in each trial, For every problem life
sends a faithful friend to share, For every sigh, a sweet
song and an answer for each prayer.
You and I have been friends for a long time, but I know in my
heart that I've always needed you more than you've needed me.

(27:02):
And I'll miss our time together more than I can say.
But you know what? There will be a new day, and
eventually, a new year. And when the upcoming winter
gives way to spring, rest assured it will once again be
time for Dodger baseball. And there's just this beauty in
it that even in the greatest disappointment, there's still a

(27:26):
new day. Even in the greatest trials, the
greatest heart breaks. There's still another game,
there's still another pitch, there's still another season on
the horizon. And it's that hope we we just
did a whole episode on hope not too long ago, that hope that

(27:47):
keeps you going. And that that's what I think is
so beautiful about sports and about maintaining that hope that
things could be different this year.
Things could be different this game.
Even when life beat you down over and over and over again,

(28:08):
even when you're a Cowboys fan, there's always hope that next
week. There's always hope the next
season. This is going to be our year.
And that optimism, that enthusiasm, that fandom that
keeps you coming back, that keeps you anticipating what's

(28:29):
going to happen next, What couldbe, even though all the odds are
stacked against you, what could be there could be victory
coming. Man, that's a great life lesson.
Yeah, I mean, it's, it's definitely something that on the
other side of the situation, youknow, and, and the reality is,

(28:50):
is that like everything, everything comes to an end and
players get old and they retire and winning stops.
And you can't always just, you know, reload.
It's it's eventually something where even with good teams, you
can't win every year. And at the end of the day for
those guys, if they lose, if they, if the Dodgers would have

(29:11):
lost game seven, it would have been a they would have felt like
it was a failure because it's that whole thing.
And so like, like you said, there's, there's so much good in
the fact of that, that we can learn inside of our life and
that there is tomorrow. And I think part of that is
sometimes you lose and sometimeslife is hard.

(29:32):
And, and how do we, how do we fail forward?
We hear people talk about all the time.
But sports teach us that hope isworth the risk.
It's worth the risk. Disappointment doesn't break us.
Perseverance is something that'spracticed, that you you keep
going, you keep fighting, you keep hoping, you keep believing,

(29:55):
you keep pushing forward throughdisappointment, through
heartbreak, that it doesn't break you, it propels you
forward. I understand 100% what you're
saying. I I, I mean, I, I like I told
you and I'm so not like trying to like, I don't live sports

(30:16):
that deeply like. It's not about sports, it's
about life. No, yeah, but I don't.
I don't. That's like I said, like for me,
sports don't necessarily move that needle for me inside of
things. I enjoy sports, but life.
Should. Yeah, life should move that
needle. Yeah, but I don't have to.
I don't have to. Anyway, yes, I understand 100%

(30:36):
what you're saying and that we we have to move forward and
navigate and go through life with, you know, this hope that
there is something that's there and this there's a there's a
tomorrow and it's not just. Failure shouldn't break you.
No, there's a lot of things. Disappointment shouldn't destroy
you. No, there's a lot No, I agree,

(30:57):
there's a lot of things that shouldn't.
I, I think that in that space, though, it, it's, it's how do
you, how do you learn the fail forward?
How do you learn to take the next step?
And I mean, I, I laugh about it,but there and I think we've
talked about this before is likethere was just a season of life
being in Tennessee that like church attendance would be down

(31:21):
the next day when Tennessee losta football guy, you know,
college football game on a Saturday night.
People wouldn't show up on Sunday mornings.
And I'm just going that's a lot of hope to put in a bunch of 18
year old kids that you're going my entire the entire focus of my
life is based on, you know, likeoutlook of life is based on
whether or not a bunch of 18 to 22 year old kids can can win a

(31:47):
60 minute. Is that what it is football game
and that that's a lot to to process and do.
And so I've just always thought some of that was incredibly.
Insane. I don't think you understand
what I'm trying to say. Though no, I get what you're.
Saying I'm not saying it's aboutsports.
I'm saying it's. About life That sports prepare
us for life. No, I get it.
Yeah. That and I haven't seen any

(32:09):
studies. I haven't seen any scientific
studies, but I would venture to say that kids who grow up
playing sports are more resilient as adults that the
kids who grow up learning that Ican strike out seven out of 10
times and still be considered a great baseball player 7 out of

(32:32):
10 times. I can strike, I can get out.
But if I can get a hit 3 out of 10 * 30% success rate, then
that's considered great in this game.
That I can miss a last second shot and my teammates are still
going to help me off of the court.
We're still going to go get pizza afterwards, a pizza in and
celebrate together. There's still hopeful we we can

(32:55):
lose every game this season in Pop Warner football, but next
year we're practicing just as hard to get ready.
There's resilience that is builtthrough this.
There's there's character that is built and forged out of the
lessons that we learn through through sports.
I think that that there's incredible parallels and

(33:16):
similarities between life and sports.
I don't. I mean, I don't disagree with
that. I mean, I know I learned a ton.
I think my kids learned a ton aswell.
Yes. I don't.
I don't disagree with that sentiment at all.
Yeah, I yeah, I don't. I don't have anything else to
add there. Yeah, I agree.
I agree. Yeah.
No, I mean, I don't disagree with what you're saying at all.
So how do you think that momentsof perseverance shape our

(33:39):
identity? I I think that the tension comes
into how do we see ourselves before the moment started?

(34:01):
And because the persevere means you're having to work through
something that's complicated andhard and and kind of to continue
through and to work and and you're in the goal with hope,
like you said, for it to be a hopefully good, but sometimes it
ends poorly. And I think when our view is is
really inward and really on us like having to persevere if it

(34:28):
doesn't end well, if we don't win the championship, if we
don't get the job, if we don't land that, that next moment in
life that everything, you know, sticks to perfect landing.
I I think our identity kind of we start to go, I'm not enough,
I'm not good enough. I, I'm not valued, people don't
see good in me and I think it can put us in a really, really

(34:51):
dark, heavy spot. I think though, if we have the
ability to persevere and go, hey, sometimes you don't get the
job. Sometimes it's just not the
right opportunity and and you still have the ability to go,
Hey, but if I, I, I risked it, Itook the step, like you said,
like you said earlier, I mean, Ishowed back up this season, even
though last season didn't go theway I wanted and I put in the

(35:13):
work. I put in the time.
Hey, I grabbed the guitar. You know, that glass concert
wasn't great, but I grabbed the guitar again and I worked on
this stuff. That last performance wasn't the
thing it should have been. That last paper, that last poem
wasn't necessarily the best thing, but I kept writing.
I kept working, I kept doing and, and it it taught that at
the end, you see that the hard work and the continued grind of

(35:39):
it really does produce somethingbeautiful.
I mean, it's pressure that creates diamonds and, and all of
these random sayings that we hear.
But I think that that perseverance and that hard work
and that effort really does create something special.
I don't know. I mean, I don't know where your
thoughts are in some of them. I just think we're not defined

(36:00):
by outcomes. We talked about that a couple of
weeks ago that we're not definedby outcomes, but we're defined
by our refusal to quit when things look impossible and that
that ability to keep going. Mookie Betts is the Dodgers
shortstop. He's going to be a first ballot
Hall of Famer. He's multiple time All Stars

(36:22):
weren't won an MVP award in the league and he struggled mightily
in this post season. I think in the World Series, he
he definitely was below the Mendoza line with his batting
average, which for non baseball fans would be below 200 and he
was significantly below that. And after one of the Dodgers
losses in the World Series, he was asked in the post game press

(36:45):
conference about his play and hesaid, the bottom line is I've
been horrible. He said, I I love this game.
I've devoted my life to this game.
I've been horrible, but I've gotteammates who who pick me up and
I've got teammates who will ensure that tomorrow is a new
game. And we just have to I have to be
better. I have to be better tomorrow,

(37:05):
but I also need to rely on my teammates and realize that one
person doesn't win this game. And, and having that, that faith
in the people around you that even when you're at your worst,
you've got people that will comealongside you and pick you up, I
think is a great outlook to haveThe another way that sports
mirrors life and can teach us incredible lessons about how to

(37:29):
win at the game of life. Yeah.
I mean, I think that's, you know, when Mookie talks there
and things and I heard part of that interview and we've talked
about it, of course as well. But like he and and what he's
saying, he's got this built in family.
And because the Dodgers pay another 40 guys that all are on

(37:54):
a roster and want to show up andbe a be a part of this thing.
And so they do throughout the throughout the season,
throughout the year, sitting in locker rooms, on planes, on
buses, all of those things. They build this just like with a
family, they build this connectedness that's there.
And in this, anyone on the planet would go, Mookie may not

(38:17):
be hitting the ball incredibly well right now, but everybody in
this place knows if the pitcher gets lazy, Mookie will get hot.
And so everybody on the team, they're not looking and going,
why don't we bench Mookie and gocall Tony Maher up and see if
he'll come out here and play shortstop?
Nobody's doing that because, well, maybe if they really knew

(38:37):
you, they would. But like, Mookie's the best
there is. I mean, he's as good.
I mean, he's played four positions for the Dodgers,
something like that. Since he's been there, like, I
think 2 places in outfield, second base and short.
Yeah. I mean, he's an incredible
player. And everybody's like, we want to
encourage Mookie, like we want to come around and guess what,
good families. And Mookie never got the big

(38:58):
hit. In this series, he never.
Got the big hit but in the bottom of the 11th inning with
US winning by 1 and the Blue Jays having runners on 1st and
3rd with one out and their batter Alejandro Kirk who had
destroyed us the entire series at the plate he hits a broken
bat liner to 2nd and who gets the ball and has a World Series

(39:20):
ending double play? Mookie bats and and and it just
it's Galatians 69 you know, let us not grow weary in doing good
for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give
up And I think he didn't give upand and in life it can seem like
everything's going wrong. It can seem like we can't hit

(39:42):
the ball to save our life, that every corner that we turn,
there's another obstacle in our way.
That we're not getting things right at work, we're not getting
things right in our family, we're not getting things right
with our friendships. And yet, if you just keep
trying, if you just keep doing what is good, eventually the

(40:05):
ball is going to come your way and eventually you're going to
make the play. And maybe it's a play to win the
World Series. Yeah, I mean, it's, you know,
that whole thing is people, you know, why do I keep going?
Why do I keep going? And I think The thing is, is
it's not just keeping going. It's like you said, they're like

(40:26):
don't grow tired of doing good. It's it's doing the good things.
It's doing the right things. It's stepping in and and being
in the right places. It's not just waking up and
existing. It's don't grow tired of doing
good. And and I think in that way, we
start to see those next steps that persevering through whether

(40:49):
it's good or hard, just continuedoing good.
And I do think there's opportunities in the side of
that. And let's take a quick break
here from our show sponsor and we'll be right back to talk a
little bit more Dodger Baseball and Momentum Swings.
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(41:10):
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make a greater impact. There were so many pivotal
moments in this series, especially game seven.

(41:30):
Game 7 itself went 11 innings, which for non baseball fans a
typical game is 9, so it went into overtime.
We had 11 innings and there wereso many moments for both teams
that were complete momentum swings where a fan base felt
like this is ours, we're about to win the World Series.
And then one swing of the bat, either offensively or

(41:52):
defensively, the entire outlook changed.
The entire momentum swung in an instant.
A single swing, a single play can change the entire course of
a game. And I think that often times
life works the same way. That one phone call, one

(42:15):
meeting, one conversation, one instant.
Life can be completely flipped upside down, positively or
negatively. That life can change, Momentum
can swing in a single moment. Robert, can you think of a
moment in life when everything changed in an instant?

(42:36):
Yeah, I was processing through this thought and when you sent
the question over and there is just a season where we were in a
space that we needed to switch jobs and actually a few people
from this company were were leaving and and we were a part

(42:57):
of that, that we're just kind ofmoving on to the next
opportunity. And I really didn't know what
was next. I just knew that in a, in a few
weeks, I was going to need to step away from where I was and,
and not really sure what was there and ended up just being at
this event and bumped into a guythat I had known for a bunch of

(43:18):
years. And hey, how are things going?
And I said, just to be really honest, things overall are
pretty good. And you know, this is going on
at home and family's doing well and this isn't this here.
I said, but there's just just one thing.
And, and he was like, do you do you care to move?
And I was like, no. And he was like, do you like the

(43:42):
beach? And I was like, I never lived
there. I don't have a clue.
And he's and he was just like, when I make this call there, I
mean, I ain't promising you anything, but like, it'll be
taken seriously. And he literally, I, I called
Mel and I said, hey, here's somestuff.
And I said, yeah, let's, let's do it.
And he made a call and two months later, we weren't living

(44:02):
here. I mean, we were living somewhere
else and doing some things. And it was literally a a
relationship that had been built, you know, probably close
to a decade before. And we never really saw each
other that much. We were just at this event
happened to be at the same time.We didn't live, we don't live in
the same area. We just kind of knew each other
through some work stuff. And he I just, and he's like,

(44:24):
why don't you come to me sooner?And I was like, I don't ever
want to leverage those types of relationships.
And his actual words were that stinking thinking and, and, and,
and it just really was a moment where we had no clue what was
next. And it really felt a lot of
stress, a lot of unease. I mean, Melissa was actually
pregnant with her third child atthat moment.
And we were getting pretty deep into that pregnancy.

(44:46):
And anyone who's had kids knows when, you know, you get to a
certain point, you can't move and go, oh, we'll get new
doctors. I mean, we were the point that
we could not move. It was just a really different
kind of situation. And it was very cool to see God
work, you know, in that space. You know, a lot like, you know,
we're talking about sports. I like sporting events when
things feel really down and yourteam's the favored team.

(45:08):
But things are you're about to get beat and something happens
and you block a kick or you get a last minute home run or, you
know, it's the the shot that, you know, quiets the crowd and
everything changes all of a sudden.
It was just one of those momentsand it was really, really cool.
What about you? For me it was a Wednesday night
about 10:30 PM and the phone rang and it was my mom and I

(45:30):
didn't know why my mom was calling me.
My parents were on vacation and she called at 10:30 and as soon
I was sitting on the couch with Amanda and as soon as the phone
rang I said this isn't good. And in 15 minutes we were in the
car driving 5 hours, 6 hours to Charleston, SC and we lost my
dad and completely unexpected. And life, life has looked

(45:52):
different from that moment changed everything.
And that's just the reality. Those are two very genuine
stories about some moments that for us, things were pretty scary
and a conversation led to a whole lot of hope.
And for you, things were really good and a conversation led to a
lot of really hard moments. And, and, and, and things that,

(46:15):
like you said, things have neverlooked different, never looked
the same. They've always been a little bit
different since then. And I think that's the thing
that's hard sometimes in in life.
And and you and I talk and, and I know how complicated that is
for you not talking, but like what what with your dad's story

(46:35):
and what happened there and losing him in that moment.
And I know like truly he was your hero and, and that was not
easy in that moment. And I know it's still hard
today. And I just think that's the hard
thing for all a lot of people iswhat's our hope in when, you
know, going back to that phrase and what's our hope in and, and

(46:56):
how do we persevere in those moments to, to go man?
They're they're today's not going to be easy.
Tomorrow's probably going to be hard six months from now, a year
from now. I I don't, I know it's been
quite a few years since that with your dad now several,
several five years. Yeah.

(47:16):
And I'm only a year and a half out from my mom, but like,
there's still moments that I'll pick up the phone when something
cool happens to one of the boys.And I'm like, I haven't told mom
this yet. And it's just those weird things
that is still hard in those spaces and moments.
But I think it's the reality of remembering the good.

(47:38):
And it just takes sometimes it takes time.
But I love the verse you read a few minutes ago that I'm
actually working through Galatians with a couple buddies
of mine. And we just, if you listen to
the Galatians at double speed, you can listen to the whole book
in 11 minutes. And it keeps my mind focused.
But so you're talking about justover 20 minutes.

(48:00):
You can listen to all six chapters of Galatians.
And so five days a week we're listening to the book of
Galatians. And then we just text each other
like, Hey, here's what God said to me today.
And so it's not locked into, oh,we're going verse by verse.
And here's what Galatians one says.
And now we're Galatians 2. Now we're at 3.
Like today I was bouncing between chapters 2 and five and

(48:22):
texted somebody else about the opening of chapter 6.
And and I love that verse, though, that you read and and
just don't grow tired, weary of,of doing good.
And I think when we experience great loss or great success,
sometimes we can go, OK, I've arrived so I don't have to do

(48:43):
good anymore. Things are just going to be good
for me regardless or great loss is like, why would I do good or
doing good didn't get me good things?
Why would I continue to do thosethings?
And and I think we face a real struggle that sometimes hard,
but also I love don't grow tiredbecause in the end you get the
prize, the reward, and that's what's hard.

(49:04):
How can we stay ready in life? How can we stay prepared for
these unexpected momentum swing moments?
I love how John Mark Comer says and it's not a name.
Maybe I've said as much, but I still listen to him a ton and
and love his practices and training that he does it.

(49:28):
He he talks about that in everything in life.
We train. No one trains to no one tries.
He goes out and just tries to play sports.
Unless you've seen me play Sunday afternoon old man soccer
that I'm just trying. I don't, I'm not training at
all. I'm just trying to not break a
leg. But people, we train for things
we want to do. We don't just pick up a guitar

(49:50):
and go sit on a stage and be like, I'm going to be a worship
leader or, you know, the next John Mayer or something like
that. Like we train, we work, we do,
but with faith things we tend totry.
It's like I'm trying not to be angry.
I'm trying not to say those bad words.
I'm trying not to have that thought or have that action or

(50:11):
have that thing. And so for me, when it comes to
like, how do we navigate these things?
I think it's a training process.I think it's and so for, for me,
I always kind of start with, I believe following Jesus is the
ways of Jesus and honoring loving God, listening to the

(50:31):
work of the Holy Spirit in my life is the most important
thing. And I know you echo those
sentiments. And and so I can't do that if I
don't know what he says. And so part of my training is
opening up the scriptures and and I like I felt so miserably
last night that it is not even funny.

(50:52):
Like I've actually had to send texts this morning just saying
the worst parts of me came out last night and, and I'm I'm just
going through something that I don't know how to handle and I'm
trying to figure it out, which is probably the problem.
I'm not training to figure it out.
I'm trying to figure it out and,and so like, even like I'm, I'm

(51:16):
working through the book of Johnwith some people, I'm working
through the book of Galatians with some other people.
I've, I preach a sermon 40 weeksa year.
I'm, I'm, I'm in the scriptures.I read two books at a time, 1
chapter a day with two pastor buddies of mine. 1 is very
personal spiritual growth and the other one's ministry growth
things. So I want to pay some 50 books a

(51:37):
year that are filled with scripture.
I'm constantly inside the Scripture and the Word and
trying and training myself to listen.
And yet like less than 12 hours ago is maybe one of the worst
moments I've had in my life in the last five years.

(52:01):
And it just and it was so it isn't.
I mean, so today I wake up and I'm confessing and I'm repenting
and I'm confessing to other people that I'm confessing and
I'm repenting. And so it's not always just the
fact that, oh cool, I'm doing good, I'm going to win.
I lost really bad last night. I didn't just lose the World
Series. They like closed my franchise

(52:22):
down like it is over. I mean, they saw I had to sell
the team kind of thing almost it.
It's just sometimes of that thing.
And so for me, I still find thatmy hope just in the
encouragement of what you just read there.
If you know 10 minutes ago, that's where I'm at.
What about you? How do you kind of work through
and what what establishes those steps for you?

(52:45):
It's it's the small things dailylike that what you were saying.
It's the small things daily. Character discipline, prayer,
Scripture reading, showing up when nobody notices you.
It's it's those small commitments that that take place
every day that I think keep you in the batter's box, that keep

(53:09):
you ready, that keep you prepared to face life's
unexpected momentum swings, whether good or bad.
So I give you a really hard timeand I have this episode, but I
also am pretty quick to say and and honestly, there's been
moments in times I'm just like you going, I don't know what
else you want me to say to this conversation.

(53:29):
And so it's been a little clunkyand I'm sure people quit
listening to them. But for you know, if you still
hang in here, actually, one of the greatest things about you is
the consistency of the habits you have.
And you're, again, I've said it funny earlier and, and you're a
touch insane with your sports fandom, but what people wouldn't

(53:53):
know is you're actually that exact same way with your
friendships. I should have started with your
family or maybe even your faith.But you're that way with your
faith. You're that way with your
family. You're that way with your
friendships, you're that way with your fitness.
I've got FS. If I could get one more F,
that'd be the perfect Baptist analogy that I could go through.
But like, you are, they're fandom and you're fandom.

(54:16):
There we go. I got 5 FS did it like literally
you are that way. And and I'm not just saying that
like if anybody got a chance to get into the the circle of your
life, they would see it like it.It's it's almost like admittable

(54:37):
to a padded room, like focused like it's all it's almost crazy.
But it's like you, Craig Rochelle, I hear guys talk about
these types of things and you all talk about the small habits.
Craig talks about like Dennis all over.
So grateful for him because he'slike the first habit when I was
like, I'm going to develop habits is I started flossing and

(54:57):
he flosses and if flossing is a huge deal to him and he lives
that way, But there's things like that that you're the exact
same way way with. I know flossing is not one of
those, but you are very. Not a big floss I need to be.
You've said that before. We had that episode with Bruce
where you talked about that. But I think that's the thing.
It is like it's consistency in the small things and and we

(55:22):
value Wordle or Block Blast or Clash of Clans or whatever it is
that we do on our phone. We value that scroll on social
media and we're experts in thosethings.
And we never miss a streak. And not that reading the Bibles
about a streak, but how long is your you version Bible app
streak? Because for you it would be 7

(55:44):
billion 264 straight days because you're just clinical.
I mean, it is, it's methodical is the word I meant, not
clinical. Clinical is what gets you into
the padded room. Methodical is what sets up World
Series champions and you are methodical about those types of
things. And so for all the hard time I
give you, it is actually those things about you that inspire me

(56:08):
and challenge me and make me like hate you at some moments
because you're so you're so intense and you push and, and
I'm going, I don't want to be pushed there.
And then an hour later I'm going, hey, thanks for that
conversation. We had one couple months ago
that Melissa would tell you thatseven weeks out now from that
conversation, I'm an entirely different person with my

(56:31):
approach to stuff. And I think that's the thing
that we miss when we get so focused on ourselves.
But you have to focus on yourself inside of those
disciplines to be able to serve and care for others.
And it's because you care for others so much that you set the
priorities of those types of disciplines and things that
you're doing. And I think when life can get

(56:53):
carried away and it feels like life has been taking out of your
control, there are things that you can come back to that say I
can control this, That when everything else has been flipped
upside down, I can control this.I can stick to this.
I can keep my streak going. I can take the 15 minutes that
it takes to do this that I do every single day.

(57:15):
And it's something that keeps keeps you regulated, it keeps
you on track even when it feels like the track is now completely
busted apart. It keeps you moving forward in
the direction that you want to be going.
Hey, we're going to do somethingthat we haven't done for a while
and we're going to do it with a little bit of a different twist.
So we're going to hop into PorchPicks Baseball Edition.

(57:40):
All right folks, pull up a rocking chair and grab yourself
a glass of sweet tea. It's time for porch pics.
This is where we give you our top recommendations on, well,
just about anything. If we like it, we're picking it.
No deep theology here, just goodold fashioned opinions.
So sit back, relax, and get ready for this week's porch
pics. All right, so this week on porch
pics, and we haven't done porch pics for quite a while.
And we need to do 1 of each of these like the four things that

(58:04):
you that you said. Yeah, yeah, we.
Need to do one for each of these.
So what is your favorite all time baseball movie?
I I this is like this is not going to be like probably a lot
of people's it is AI think it's up there in in top five or 10

(58:24):
baseball movies of all time, butI just love Major League so
much. So funny.
It just, I, I mean, it's just, it's just so good.
And yeah, what about you? Baseball movies make the best
movies. I think if you were to do a list

(58:45):
of sports movies, probably you would have Hoosiers and Rudy.
That would be be up there. But I think every other top ten
movie would be a baseball movie if you were doing just sports
movies. I was listening to and we'll get
back to your movie. By the way, you ever listen to a
podcast and they bring a guest in and you're going, you know, I
know who that person is. They're probably like, I'm

(59:05):
really indifferent about them. And you listen to the podcast
and you either just go, now that's my least favorite person
on the planet, or oh, my goodness.
I just, yeah, yeah. Glenn Powell, like, was on the
Rewatchables this week for The Truman Show.
And I have watched his show. Chad Powers.

(59:26):
Not great, but that isn't his fault.
He's incredible. I think it's poorly written.
He was great in Top Gun. He was great in the Twister
reboot, but he like talking about listen to him talk about
movies like inspire, like inspires me.
And so, but they were talking about sports movies, baseball
and boxing. And that's the thing they said

(59:48):
baseball and boxing are the are just the movies, the sports
movies that you can makeover andover and over and over.
And there's so many ways to comeat it.
Basketball. Football, there's some good
flicks in that. I really like the replacements.
There's a couple things there, but I remember the Titans are
some good ones occasionally. But those two move those two

(01:00:11):
types of movies. And so you're 100% correct.
Baseball is an incredible medium.
All right, So what if what with that being said, and you think 8
at least seven of the top 10 movies, sports movies of all
time are baseball movies? But my favorite movie of all
time, maybe number 21 of the top2 movies of all time for me, is

(01:00:35):
actually a baseball movie, and that would be Field of Dreams.
I watched that recently, it's a good flick.
Remember the Titans is in my topfive.
I do love that film, but Field of Dreams is really good.
Field of Dreams is an amazing movie and the book the book is
incredible as well. Yeah, my so which so is that?

(01:00:58):
Is that your favorite baseball book?
It is, yeah. Take you over to dreams.
I mean, you're, you're like, you're like Rebecca and Ted
Lasso, Spice Girls and Spice Girls favorite concert and best
concert. It's, it's, it's a first concert
and best concert. That's it.
I'm gonna be honest, I've never,I've only read 1 baseball book
in my life that I can remember. Really.

(01:01:20):
Yes. And it's Casey at the bat.
And so I had to memorize Casey at the bat when I was in fifth
grade. I had to memorize the whole.
Thing yeah I can you know it's it's a fun story it writs you
know the mighty Casey has struckout but anyway if we ruined that
for someone it. It looks like 100 ruined the
whole thing. It looks like 100.

(01:01:41):
Everyone knows what happened in Mudville.
Come on that day. So that is my thing, alright.
Baseball song. Baseball song.
Wow. So I I do performance
storytelling, you do. And I wrote an entire story, a

(01:02:04):
45 minute show based off of the history behind Take Me Out to
the Ball Game. I won.
I do. That would be interesting.
Is that not one of the CDs you have?
It is. Actually, it is on an album that
I have that is called Timeless, which is Stories about the Great
American Pastime. And if someone's willing to pay

(01:02:24):
shipping you will send them acd of your.
I would or you can find it on Spotify or Apple Music or Amazon
Music for free. Go give it a listen if you still
own ACD player. That's right, I think my
favorite baseball song that talks about baseball is I just

(01:02:51):
love cheap seats the song from out Nothing like the game from
the cheap seats by Alabama. I think my favorite song that
has been entwined into baseball,even though I loathe this team
so much with the like fury of 1000 fires is Sweet Caroline.

(01:03:16):
So I'm gonna give 2 answers there.
I just There's something fun about Boston Red Sox Sweet
Caroline. Just I have a story about that
too. Fun.
I'd love to hear it. No, I mean, it's, it's a story,
Yeah, that's our story that incorporates.
That we have never promoted TonyMaher's storytelling, but today
we did. Yep, that one is my go to ghost

(01:03:39):
story, my sweet Caroline one. Yeah.
So it's not about the Red Sox, It's just about it is about the
Red Sox. Yeah.
It should be a ghost. Story In some way.
In some ways it is, yeah. All right.
And I actually have I think we both might have already said our
quotes today. Is your quote going to still be
Vince Gully and, well, my. Quote would be It's time for
Dodger baseball. There's nothing greater.

(01:04:01):
No, no greater words. I love there's just something
romantic about baseball, I just think.
And then there is it's a beautiful, beautiful game.
Soccer is the beautiful game, but I think baseball is a very
beautiful game. And it's it's, it's the most
unique of all the sports. It's nine people playing

(01:04:23):
individually on a team. And it's just the weirdest
thing. You've got one guy that's
literally on an island almost byhimself.
I mean, they even make a dirt pile in the middle.
It is his island in the middle of all that grass and he's by
himself, just doing everything he can to a he's got a weapon,
the other guy has a weapon and one's throwing it and one's

(01:04:45):
swinging it and it's just a beautiful, beautiful game.
It really is favorite baseball stadium.
I haven't been to many. I mean, I loved going to Fulton
County. That was so much fun.
I'm thankful I got to go there. And now the Braves are two more
stadiums in since then. That I've been to, I really

(01:05:13):
loved Turner Field. I've been, I've only been to 5,
three of those are brave stadiums.
And I've been to Kansas City andI've been to Houston.
And so Kansas City was a ton of fun and it was kind of a cool, a
pretty cool park as well. I mean, if you don't say Dodger

(01:05:36):
Stadium, I'm going to be. Is not my favorite part.
Camden Yards is my favorite ballpark.
Yep. Love Camden Yards.
Love Great American in Cincinnati, PNC and Pittsburgh
is amazing. Dodger Stadium.
There's nothing like it. It's it's an incredible
atmosphere. But as far as just the ballpark
itself itself, I love Camden Yards.

(01:05:57):
Yeah. Named my son Camden.
You did. It's a beautiful ballpark.
What's your favorite ballpark food?
Oh I love helmet nachos. Oh, helmet nachos.
I just taste. Different than the regular

(01:06:17):
nachos. They do, I don't know why.
Typically they're BBQ nachos as well though.
I love a good like helmet BBQ Nacho.
And I don't mean like the littleI mean a full size.
Like when it's over you put the helmet on your head size helmet
full of BBQ nachos. That is my just chips, barbecue

(01:06:40):
and just cheese smothered all over it.
BBQ sauce on top of that. I love it so much.
Cincinnati, Great American Ballpark.
I should say the Dodger Dog thatwould that would be the obvious
one, but that's not where I'm going.
At Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, down the first
baseline, at the end of the first baseline, like in the

(01:07:00):
right field corner, they have a place that serves these French
fries that they cover them. They've got different kinds.
They've got Buffalo chicken ones, they've got BBQ ones and
and they are, we call them baseball fries.
We'll make them at home sometimes when there's a big
game on because they are just phenomenal.
And I know, and I know to Canadians what I'm about to say

(01:07:22):
is a heresy, but to me, anytime you use fries as a base, like to
me, that's the Americanization of poutine, poutine, poutine,
poutine. And I, I, I'm just telling you,
fries as a base is one of the most underrated things on this
planet. Now.
Gravy and cheese curds, really stinking good.

(01:07:44):
But man fries as like instead ofchips or something.
So good. All right, we're going to keep
this going. Now we're going to move straight
from porch picks right into Truth or trash Baseball Edition.
Are you ready for this? I'm not, but at some point in
time I need to be asking the questions and you need to be the
trasher truther. Well, then you'd have to write
them so. And probably.

(01:08:05):
And I had fun writing these ones.
These ones were a lot of fun. All right, we're going truth or
trash Baseball edition. Pitchers who throw inside are
secretly trying to teach life lessons.
Truth. You can't handle the truth.
Baseball is the greatest sport ever invented because it mirrors
life more than any other game #2and I already got you thinking.

(01:08:33):
Yeah, this one's a little deeperthough.
I'm I'm, I'm, I'm going to say trash, but I don't know that I
have like anything that's just better.
I think I have some stuff that might be equal trash.
Momentum is more powerful than talent in baseball and in life.

(01:08:54):
Truth. You can't handle the truth.
Maybe not in life, but definitely in baseball.
A walk off home run is the single most emotional moment in
all of sports. I'll give you truth on that one.
You can't handle the truth. Baseball is 90% mental and the

(01:09:18):
other half is emotional recoveryafterward.
Thank you, Babe Ruth. Truth.
You can't handle the truth. True fans believe they can
influence the game from their couch.
And I meant Yogi Berra. Sorry.
Yeah, Yogi Berra, Thank you. Truth.

(01:09:39):
You can't handle the truth. Ballpark Hot dogs taste better
than any food in the real world,and scientists should study why.
I will say truth. You can't handle the truth.
A stolen base is more thrilling than a home run.
Trash. Trash.
Maybe in today's baseball. Doesn't happen as often.

(01:09:59):
Yeah, the 9th inning is the mosthopeful place on earth.
Trash. Trash.
Every baseball fan has prayed during a game at least once,
whether they admit it or not. You can't handle the truth.
The Braves tomahawk chop is iconic, but Dodger Blue still

(01:10:19):
reigns supreme. Trash trash you.
Can't. Handle the truth.
There's no such thing as casual baseball heartbreak.
It always cuts deep. If you're a sports fan, I'll
truth with that 100%. You can't handle the truth.
Truth. You can't fully appreciate
baseball until you've had your heart broken by it.

(01:10:42):
Truth. You can't handle the truth.
There's always next season is the most hopeful and delusional
sentence in sports. Truth you.
Can't handle the truth? Most people quit in life
somewhere between the 6th and 7th innings.
Oh, that's a great question and I will say truth.
You can't handle the truth. The strikeouts you learn, are

(01:11:05):
more valuable than the home runsyou celebrate.
Truth. You can't handle the truth.
Everyone needs a bullpen, a group of people ready to help
when life gets late in the game.Absolute truth.
You can't handle the truth. Faith and baseball both require
believing in things you can't see.
Oh, truth. You can't handle the truth.

(01:11:25):
Every dad believes he could havemade the big leagues if coach
had just put me in more. I'm not going to, I'm going to
say trash, but that is there's way too many people that think
they could be playing pro baseball right now if they'd
have gotten the spot on the field.
Baseball umpires are 50% right, 50% wrong and 100% sure of
themselves. Yeah, truth to Jason, at least.

(01:11:51):
You can't handle the and finallyin this one could cause some
great animosity, debate and perhaps broken relationships on
this one. The pitch clock is the best
thing to ever happen to baseballtrash.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.We can be friends and that was
truth or trash. Hey, we're going to take a quick
second hear from our sponsor onemore time, and then we're going

(01:12:12):
to come back and wrap this up. At Higher Ministries, they
believe strong leaders build strong ministries.
That's why they're committed to empowering pastors and ministry
leaders with the tools they needto succeed.
Whether you're navigating challenges or looking to expand
your impacts, their team can guide you every step of the way.
Check out higherministries.com and discover how they can
support your ministry journey. So when watching the World

(01:12:36):
Series, specifically Game 7, andseeing the emotional roller
coaster that Dodger fans went on, the full circle emotional
roller coaster that Blue Jays fans went on, and even seeing
the emotional investment that that fans that had no allegiance
to either team went on. I was sitting there thinking
through and processing through as I was writing this episode

(01:12:59):
that their sadness and their celebration.
And that's the case in life, as we've talked about throughout
this episode. How can we allow ourselves to
feel fully the sadness and the celebration without getting
stuck in either of those? You should be answering this

(01:13:21):
question more than me, which I know you will answer it as well.
In life, there's some some moments where like I've just
taken some risks and and when I take those risks, I'm like all
in on them. And one of my kids is like, I

(01:13:42):
couldn't do that. I couldn't be that hopeful.
And knowing for the most part that it's going to break my
heart, like knowing there's probably very little chance that
what you're so hopeful for is not going to happen.
And the thing I always say is, yeah, but what if it does?

(01:14:02):
Like, what if, like what if thateffort, what if that risk leads
to something crazy that I get todo for a season in life or I get
to be a part of? And and it, it opens up this
opportunity that radically changes everything.
And, and I'm like, without that,I, I just don't know.

(01:14:24):
Is that that risk? I don't know that anything's,
you know, that life is just worth it.
And and I think inside of faith,I mean, every day I wake up and
I put my faith in my hope and something that I have not
physically seen. I mean in this earth, I mean I
believe and I have faith and I have hope.
And and so I think that in the in life, it functions for me a

(01:14:51):
lot. That same way is just I, I'm
good with hearing. No, I just I feel like that the
one in 1000 times that I hear yes is worth the 999 news.
How do you process that? What's your thoughts?
Emotion, sadness, joy, celebration.

(01:15:16):
Emotion is proof that we're alive, and emotion is proof that
we're invested into the situation.
Sadness doesn't cancel joy. You can still have joy in the
midst of sadness. You can still find beauty in
brokenness, but joy also on the contrast of that.

(01:15:37):
Joy doesn't erase struggle in life.
That just because you find joy, it doesn't mean that there
aren't going to be difficult times.
I think in baseball and in life,the the bottom of the ninth
inning isn't just a game. I think it's a metaphor I love,
John Maxwell said. You either win or you learn.

(01:15:59):
And the emotions that we have, the things that we feel there,
there's always something that wecan learn.
In every circumstance, in every situation, there's something to
learn from. Sometimes you win and sometimes
you learn. As we've come to the end of this
episode and come to the end of abaseball season, the the end of

(01:16:22):
the The first few days at the end of a baseball season are
always a time that's disappointing for me because it
feels like I've said goodbye to a friend that I'm not going to
see for a while. And it's going to be several
months before pitchers and catchers report the beginning of
February and then we start the whole journey over again.
But Robert, how do you think that watching a season long

(01:16:45):
journey like baseball that starts in February and this year
in February, I got to go to spring training.
My wife surprised me by planningthis this trip for us to go to
Arizona and see Dodgers Spring training, something that was at
the top of my bucket list and and the season culminates in
November with the Dodgers winning the World Series.

(01:17:07):
How does watching participating in this season long journey
mirror our own journey and our own long term goals that we have
in life? I mean, you think 162 games plus
another 30 preseason games plus another 20 postseason games.

(01:17:28):
I mean, it's just it's the the days are long, the years are
short and on day one of baseballseason, it's like this is never
going to end. And when it's over, you're
going, man, that went by so quickly.
And I see that with my kids. I see that with marriage.

(01:17:50):
I like there's days that are long, but man, the years are
really short and you turn a corner and what felt like day
one is now graduating and getting, you know, college and
getting married. And there's so many things that
happen in life so quickly and you just go man, and, and I
think that's just really life. And I think that sports are the

(01:18:12):
same way. We're so hopeful at the
beginning of a season and thingsare of a sports season and
things are up and down and, and it's hard and it's crazy.
But I think at the end of the day, you know, days are long,
the years are short. And, and if we realize that, you
know, whether we view it as the calendar flips and we get a
fresh start or whether we view it as, you know, just a

(01:18:33):
continuation of the, of the season we're playing right now.
It, it just it this too shall pass and things come to an end
and, and we get a, we get a reboot, we get a fresh start.
And, and I think that just a lotof that matches sports and life.
I'm going to really upset all ofour listeners in Philly right

(01:18:56):
now, in Philadelphia, because I think it's not about perfection.
It's about showing up again and again and again and again and
again. After each loss showing up after
each strikeout, showing up again.
What was that, Finding Nemo? Just keep swinging.
Just keep swinging. Just keep swinging, swinging,
swinging. I think you, I think you didn't

(01:19:17):
listen to that show correctly. But, but again, to upset our
fans, our, our listeners and feel it, I don't really have any
fans, but our, our friends in Philadelphia trust the process,
you know, trust the process thatyou're doing the work you're
putting it in. And it's a long road.
It's a long journey to get there.

(01:19:37):
But trust the process and trust that all of the time, all of the
effort, all of the energy is going to pay off.
And I think that's, that's true in faith.
I think that's true in relationships.
I think that's true in calling, even when you don't see results,
even when maybe the scoreboard doesn't reflect initially what
you hope it would. Trust the process, keep putting

(01:19:58):
in the work, keep showing up even when no one sees you and
and eventually it's going to payoff.
Talking about the Phillies, the the 76ers, the Flyers. 76ers,
yeah, their whole trust the process.
They get a lot that was their that was.
Their mantra for years? Trust the process.
Trust the process. Never really paid off for them,

(01:20:20):
but they're still trusting the process, I guess.
Robert, in closing, what's one life lesson that you can think
of that is directly inspired by baseball?

(01:20:41):
I think that, I mean, and raising a baseball player, the
thing that I have probably said more than anything to him and
that I would reflect it in my own personal life is, is exactly
what you said earlier. And man, if you, if you can do

(01:21:02):
something 3 out of 10 times, you'll, you'll have a really
good career. If you can do it 4 out of 10,
you may be the greatest to ever do it.
And you're, you're never like perfection.
It is, is the goal. I mean, when you look at
theology side of things, and I think perfection's the goal, but
it's, the reality is, is that it's unattainable on our own.

(01:21:27):
And so shoot for perfection, shoot for 10 out of 10.
But when you go, when you have aday that you're 6 for 10, be
really, really thankful when youhave a day that the day was
perfect, be incredibly grateful.But when you have a day that you
go, oh, for whatever, like it's not the end.

(01:21:48):
It's it's a hard day get to work.
You know, for me when I saw my own by life earlier, it's
confessing, repenting and movingforward and and you can't always
control, just like you can't control what pitch the pitcher's
going to throw. You can't always control how
everyone else is going to respond and react to your O for
day and you can't respond what your teammates are going to say.

(01:22:09):
We've been Speaking of, you know, some some sports.
I mean, we've seen some teams oneach other pretty hard here in
the football season of just not going to the offense, won't even
speak about the defense. I can't control what people say,
but all you can do is get back up to bat doing the things like
you said, don't grow tired of doing good and moving in that
way so you. I think it takes a team that no

(01:22:34):
one person can win the game, noteven Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
It takes. He was as close as anybody in a
while. He really was.
But it takes. It takes a team.
It takes. Yeah, yeah.
The journey never ends. I think that's the big thing
that the Dodgers won the World Series.
They celebrated for a day. And even in their parade, they

(01:22:56):
were talking about, now let's get ready for next season.
And in life, the journey never ends.
We're always growing. We're always moving forward.
We're always trying to to betterourselves.
We've never arrived. There's always more work to be
get done. There's always more steps to
take, and you can't do it alone.Baseball is funny.

(01:23:23):
It looks simple. Leather, dirt, chalk lines. 9
innings. But anyone who's ever given
their heart to a team knows it'snot a game at all.
It's hope stretched across the summer, faith measured in
innings, heartbreak held in the quiet moments between pitches.
It's the reminder that nothing beautiful comes quick, that a
season tells a story, and every story needs tension before
triumph. And sometimes the victory comes

(01:23:45):
in the very last swing, just to prove of hope was right, to hang
on. This year, the Dodgers gave us
more than a trophy. They gave us a lesson.
Stay, believe. Keep cheering even when your
voice shakes. Because life is played between
the highs and the lows. Because every defeat trains us
for the moment that joy finally breaks through.
Because the story isn't over until the last out.
And even then, another season awaits.

(01:24:07):
So whether your colors are Dodger blue, Braves red, or you
just root for a little more light in the world, don't stop
believing in a comeback. Keep taking the field.
Keep stepping up to the plate. There are still miracles left in
the late innings of your life, and if you need the reminder
today, it ain't over till it's over.
Thank you for sitting on the porch with us.
If this conversation search something in you, hope,

(01:24:29):
nostalgia, or maybe even a little competitive spark, share
it with someone who keeps showing up to their story.
Follow the pulpit and porch on Facebook and Instagram,
subscribe wherever you listen, and invite a friend to join us
next week. Until then, swing with hope,
live with faith, and remember every inning matters.