Astros Baseball, Technology and Our Prayer Life

I grew up listening to the Houston Astros baseball games on the radio.  This was a time before cable or satellite television. It was before Internet streaming and the MLB At Bat app.  I remember walking around the house carrying my little transistor radio tuned to the game.  When the Astros played on the west coast, the games would not start until after 9:00 pm so I would tie my radio to the bed rail.   I could not stay awake for the whole game and was afraid my radio would fall off the bed.

Over the years though the radio broadcast of the baseball games were either dropped or carried by a station whose power output at night was so weak I could not pick up the games anymore.  Then the MLB At Bat app. came along.  For one small yearly fee I could again listen to the radio broadcast of the Astros.  Technology kept improving to the point I was then able to receive televised broadcast of all the Astros baseball games. It was offered through the digital television provider I was using.  I was now able to watch every Astros baseball game on television.  That first year I watched every televised Astros game except for the few day games that were played during the week.  Everything was right in the world of baseball.

This past winter though I switch my digital television provider.  It was just better for me and my family.  The drawback: no more Astros televised baseball games.  I went back to using the MLB At Bat app. and listening to the radio broadcast of the games.  Do I miss watching the games?  Yes.  I miss not seeing the great catches, the homeruns and the multiple reply angles that are shown.  What I do not miss was the feeling of being tied down to the television.  I felt if I moved away from the television I could miss some exciting moment of the game.  By listening to the radio broadcast I "see" the game in my mind as I did when I was a little kid.  I am free to move around more and do other things as I listen to the game.

What I have learned from all of this is that sometimes we do not need everything we think we do.  If you feel your spiritual life waning maybe you do not have the prayer life that is best for you.  I did not give up on the Astros just because I could not watch their games anymore?   No, I found another way to keep them part of my life.  God is calling us and wants to be part of our lives.  If one form of your prayer life is not working, find one that keeps God as the central point of your life.  We are all different and so is our prayer life.  What one person may praise as a wonderful form of prayer may not be the best form for you.  There are millions of people following the game of baseball but not every one of them is an Astros fan.  They all though have ways of keeping their favorite team part of their lives.  That same effort should be part of our prayer life.