Jimmy John's: Is there a Dan here? Dan Hartleb?

This past weekend, I had the joy of watching some college baseball.  Two of my friends, Reid and Ryne Roper play for the University of Illinois and were in Carbondale with their team to play a series against the Southern Illinois University Salukis.  It was a perfect early spring day.  One couldn't ask for better conditions for both watching and playing some baseball. 

About half way through the first game of the double-header, a Jimmy John's delivery guy walked through the stands and approached the Illini dugout.  I was sitting right behind the dugout and had a perfect spot to see and hear this humorous event play out.  The delivery guy was carrying a box full of sandwiches.  He leaned into the dugout and said, "Hey guys.  Is there a Dan in there?  Dan Hartleb?"  My brother and I immediately looked at each other and burst out in laughter.

You see, Dan Hartleb is the head coach of the U of I baseball team.  He is arguably the most important and well-known person in the Illini dugout.  I guarantee every other person in the dugout knew who Dan Hartleb is.  In fact, it is likely that every single person in the stands that day (at least the ones wearing orange) knew who Dan Hartleb is.  Yet, this delivery guy was clueless.  He had no idea who he was bringing those sandwiches to.  Who knows?  Maybe if someone had taken him aside and explained who Dan Hartleb is, would he have even cared?

This whole scene provided me a good laugh, but it also got me thinking.  How would I have responded if I was in Dan Hartleb's shoes that day?  You see, here at FBC I have a pretty visible role.  Within certain circles, everyone knows who I am.  Outside of those circles, however, I am an absolute nobody.  What I need to remember (and what God is faithful to remind me of) is that even within those circles where I am well-known, I am nothing special.  I am just one part of a very complex body.  I am just another guy in the dugout who is hungry and ordered a sandwich.  It is good to be reminded of how we fit in the grand scheme of things every once in a while.  God is faithful when He brings along a delivery guy or a visitor or a child to bring us back to reality and deflate our egos a bit.

I was also thinking about that delivery guy.  He had one job that day: Deliver the sandwich to the guy that ordered it.  It was simple.  He didn't care who the guy was.  He didn't even know!  All he knew was that he had to get the sandwich to the person who ordered it.  Should he have moved more quickly because Dan Hartleb is the head coach?  Should he have smiled more broadly?  Taken more care?  What if he had been bringing it to the construction worker around the corner?  Should that change anything? 

All of this holds a lesson for us as well.  As proclaimers of the Good News, our job is simple: Spread the message.  We must take it where God has told us to take it: Everywhere.  We must preach it to whom God has told us to preach it: Everyone.  It is not for us to decide who is "worthy."  It is not for us to pick and choose who will hear and who will not.  It is not for us to preach with gladness and urgency to the "somebodies" while we neglect the "nobodies."  No, it is our job to deliver the message- to everybody.  We are called to scatter the seed all over the place and pray that God will bring the harvest.

So, that day at the ball park provided me with a number of things.  A fun time of rest and refreshment, some lessons on leadership and ministry, and a scorching sunburn on the right side of my face. 

I love baseball.

Luke 8:5-8, 11
5"The sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell beside the road, and it was trampled under foot and the birds of the air ate it up. 6Other seed fell on rocky soil, and as soon as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. 7Other seed fell among the thorns; and the thorns grew up with it and choked it out. 8Other seed fell into the good soil, and grew up, and produced a crop a hundred times as great." As He said these things, He would call out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." ... 11"Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God.