40 Days of Faith V, When the Impossible Happens

Take your seat, please. I invite you to take your outline out of the North Way Notes for this morning. I'll be reading selections from Luke 1, verses 26 through 38, but rather than read the whole text, I've chosen most of the verses and put them on your outlines. And it's real important that you have that with you so you can, after the end of today, you can go out to brunch and say, all right, I don't agree with that pastor on this point. And you can just, oh, by the way, do you like this? This is, for those of you who are Pentecostal and you're back on, we put this runway up so I could have a little more freedom. For those of you who are real nervous about being Pentecostal, it goes away after a couple weeks. So, you know, we kind of balance everything out here. I want to take you to the mountains of Tibet, a place I've never been. I've been near them when I was in New Delhi, India, but I've never been to the Tibetan mountains. And really, technically, it's the autonomous republic of Tibet that I want to talk about for just a moment because there's an amazing thing that's going on there just now. In those mountains, the capital city is Lhasa. You may have heard of that. And there has been there quite a controversy over the last years about the fact that a large number of young children have been dying from congenital heart failure. And an interesting thing happened. An American citizen was over there, uninvited, I might add, because in Tibet, no Christians have been ever invited to participate in any activity in that nation. So this Christian was there prayer walking, kind of undercover, going around. Prayer walking is when you just kind of go from place to place, not really doing anything, but just quietly praying in your spirit. And this person, who I'm going to name at the end of the story, noticed a monk off to the side who was in distress of some kind that I won't describe. But this friend of ours went over to the monk and offered his assistance. Unbeknownst to him, a government official who was watching this exchange came to this American and said, Why did you do that? And thinking he was in trouble, he said, Well, he kind of couched carefully his response and said, Well, the God that I serve prompted me to do that. And that was his testimony. The government official stepped back a little bit and said, Can I talk to you? And one thing led to another, and quickly this issue of the children came up. And he said, Is there anything that you could do to help us address this problem of dying children in Lhasa, Tibet? Well, this American citizen was not a medical person. He didn't have any training. He didn't really have any finances to throw at this problem. But he said, I'll do what I can. He came back here to Pittsburgh. He talked quickly with some physician friends that he had, who then networked him to the heart specialists here in our fine medical facilities in Pittsburgh, who then, using their connections, were able to get equipment and a team over to Lhasa, Tibet And with the agreement of the government, our friend was invited to bring this team of physicians and medical personnel into Lhasa. And in one year's time, they have now interviewed 2,000 children, discovered 180 of them with this congenital heart problem, have operated successfully now on six children and saved their lives. They lost one because they didn't have the right kind of respirator equipment before this fall when someone just donated that. And they're invited to come back next spring, and they have 40 surgeries, I believe it is scheduled. And the great thing is, it's not just selected kids, but they're allowed to go out into the community wherever they want to go and interview kids and see if they fit the profiles and share with them why they come. They come in the name of Jesus Christ. That's never happened before. Two years ago, I would have told you that would be impossible. The person is Mark Geppert, a missionary here at North Way for many years. And he has now enlisted Amy Kraus of Landis and her husband Greg. And they're part of a team now that's permanently committed to bringing the gospel to Tibet. When the impossible happens, what makes the impossible happen? This is a message about you being an agent of the impossible. It's not about, well, what do I do after the impossible? Because frankly, folks, most of us don't experience the impossible. Most of us experience the ordinary, predictable, and controllable because that's the way we like it. But God's here today to upset us just a little bit. So are you ready to be upset just a little bit? I don't mean upset in a negative way. I mean just to be stirred up a little bit. Think about Mary, would you please? Think about a teenager. Now, there's a whole lot of teenagers here in this service. Think about being 14 or 15 years old, living your life, doing your thing, hanging out with your friends. Although back then it wasn't quite as glamorous as it is today. There weren't any malls and stuff. Why would God appear to this woman, Mary, who we have no background about, don't know at all that she had any particular pedigree or any particular sense of being important or called by God. But look what it says on the top of your outline. God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, to a town in Galilee, to a virgin, pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, and her name was Mary. Why did God choose her? We don't know. Nothing special about her. No pedigree, no training, no particular special background characteristics. The only thing that we know that was exceptional about Mary was that she was able to trust God wholeheartedly. And in that sense, she's quite an amazing woman. The Bible, by the way, never says where to worship Mary. I know some of you grew up in backgrounds where Mary was worshipped, seen as an object of worship. The Bible does not teach us to do that. She was not deemed to be perfect or forever a virgin. She was extraordinary, however, in the fact that she trusted God in an almost unbelievable situation. Notice what it says. Mary's initial reaction, if you're taking notes, her initial reaction, first blank, was to be greatly troubled, confused and disturbed, the living Bible says, at his words. Well, wouldn't you be? Wouldn't you be if someone now, I mean, if someone appeared to you, if you're a young lady and said, by the way, you've been chosen by God to supernaturally conceive a child who's going to be the Son of God. I mean, how would you put that in your diary? Dear diary. There's no real easy way to make sense of that one. And Mary responds with a little bit of, well, she's troubled. And she has all these other fears as well. I mean, think of what went through her mind, just what goes through your mind. What are others going to think? What are my folks going to think? What are my friends going to say? What's going to happen? She had the fear of the supernatural. I mean, how's this going to happen? Didn't explain how it was going to happen, really, I mean, as of this point. The inadequacy that she had. I mean, am I up to this? I mean, can I really do this? And then how about the fear of change? She knew that from that moment, her life would never be the same. So these common fears, and by the way, can I say, those are the same four fears that keep most of us from ever really discovering the best that God has for us, right there. You might want to write those down. Because I want to just submit to you, in the year 2001, those four fears will try to choke the life and the possibility out of each one of you. And I want to say, as your pastor this morning, may God grant us the grace to overcome those fears. Now, it's not just in the, and I know that for some people relating to Mary, well, I don't even relate to that, but you see, God has possibility for every person here. You are created in the image of God. That means you are a special being. You were created to carry God's purposes forward. You were created to do things that your mind can only dream of. I was struggling a bit to think, well, you know what? What's a good analogy of this? Or what's a good illustration of this? And I've confessed to you before, I've always had a bit of fascination with astronomy and things. And I remember, and you don't have to put your hand up if you remember, but I remember when the Sputnik went up. Yeah. 1957. Now, I'll tell you what, folks. If you were alive then, and you were a young person or an adult, there's a lot of concern that the Russians were winning the space war and America's going to be surrounded by satellites and we'd come down. And so there's this mad scramble to see if we couldn't get a satellite as soon as possible to catch the Russians and on and on. And I want to show you a clip, a little short clip from the film, October Sky, when a young boy by the name of Homer Hickam from Coalwood, West Virginia, whose family before him and father and grandfather and great-grandfather had all worked in the coal mines and his destiny appeared to be to work the coal mines. But in his heart, there was something more. He wanted to do something different. He wanted to be a rocket scientist. Now, imagine what a little boy out of Coalwood, West Virginia would be thought of when he said, I want to be a rocket scientist. Those same fears, criticism, inadequacy, change. How's that ever going to happen? I want you to watch this little clip and see how Homer Hickam and his little friends from Coalwood, West Virginia, set out to win the National Science Award to develop a rocket fuel to help America win the space race. Let's watch this. ♪♪♪ God's honest truth, Homer, what are the chances a bunch of kids from Coalwood actually win the National Science Award? It may in the wild, Al. Heck, right. So why didn't he say so? Come on, give me that. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ We hiked 8 miles for this? Oh, great. What should we call it? How about a slack dump? What about no man's land? Hey, Coalwood. Holiday's perfect. We could build a blockhouse over there and a launch pad. We could even build a test stand. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Dear Dr. Von Braun, our launch site, which we've named Cape Coalwood, is nearing completion. Thanks to the generosity of local businesses. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Inspired by our efforts, everyone is anxious to help by donating material. We've been fortunate to have the support of our classmates, and the whole community here in Coalwood is behind us. Hey, Rocket Boy, Mars is that way. But no one has been more encouraging through our efforts than my father. No, the company doesn't have any cement left over for launch pads. I was just talking about ants. Besides, I told you, no more Rockets. You said no more Rockets for the company property. Olga doesn't own Snake Root. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Now, ladies and gentlemen, the big moment. The highest scholastic achievement award for science, the National Science Fair, Homer Hickam, Quentin Russell. As a result of winning that award, Homer Hickam went on to get a four-year scholarship and to become a Rocket Scientist and fulfill his life's dream. And to show you what a small world it is, after the first service, I had a young woman come up to me and say that she's from Colwood and knows Homer Hickam. And this is a true story. How does God do the impossible in our lives? So let me share with you three things that I see in Mary's life and perhaps they'll be of encouragement to you to believe God in this season. The first thing is the impossible happens when we desire to do His will. Loved ones, it begins with desire. I cannot overestimate the significance of desire. Without desire, you'll pull back. Without desire, other things will fill up your life. Desire is the engine that drives the passion that will sustain you on your search for God's best. You've got to want this more than anything else in your life. Look, just jump down a verse. David wrote in Psalm 40, verse 8, I desire, he writes, to do your will. Oh, my God. That's why he was called a man after God's own heart. There are two characteristics of Mary's desire to respond to the Lord. The one that I see, if you look up at the verse just prior to that, she says this, My soul praises the Lord. Or it says in the King James Verse, My soul magnifies the Lord. This is the beginning of the Magnificat, where Mary responds in praise. My soul praises the Lord. My heart rejoices in God my Savior. The first thing I see is enthusiasm. When God comes to you, when God prompts you, then respond with enthusiasm. The word enthusiasm, entheos in Greek, entheos, just think about it, entheos, in God. Enthusiasm really is being in God. And if you don't have God, then you're not going to have enthusiasm. If you have God and he's prompting your life, then you should be brimming with enthusiasm. The second thing it says is, He has shown concern for his humble servant girl. Listen, Mary didn't, you know, she didn't pop off and say, Hey, this is cool, I'm going to be pretty special here. She said, wait, this is amazing. God has had mercy on me, a humble servant of the Lord. You know, I've had the privilege over the years of my ministry to meet some pretty special people. Perhaps the most memorable to me in my life was Dr. Billy Graham. I've met Bill Bright, I've met a number of other people that you might recognize over the years. Every one of the men, and I remember meeting Dr. Billy Graham in 1993 here in Pittsburgh when he did his crusade, in preparation for it actually. And we were at a dinner together, a relatively small group, and I walked away from that exchange in some conversation with this one overriding impression. You know, he's a tall, imposing kind of person, but he's, I said to Carol, he is so humble. He just exudes a sense that, you know what? This isn't me, it's God. And that's the essence of humility. It's just recognizing, it's not demeaning your accomplishments, it's just giving the glory where it needs to go. That's what Mary did. She gave the glory to God. Loved ones, what are some of the indicators that your level of desire is where it should be? Well, one of them is a hunger for God's word. And I want to say, this is the time of the year to really evaluate how you're doing in listening to God, because if you're not listening, you're not going to hear. God, listen, God does not chase you around to give you words. He does not follow you around. He doesn't blare over the sound of your rock and roll, or your CNN, FN, or whatever it is you listen to day after day, or talk radio. God waits for you to listen to Him. And I want to say, if you start the new year and you want to hear from God, you want your desire level to be up, give Him some time. Listen to the word. I want to encourage you, you know, we make available to folks every year these Victory Bible plans. I guess I've given mine away today during the services. These little Bible plans, here's one. These are what I find to be a helpful little guide, because if you miss a day or two, you don't feel like you're out of the loop, you just keep on going. And if you're new to North Way, if you've been here a year or less and you want help, go out and get one of these. They're just available out there in the lobby, okay? We give them out every year. Now, if you've been here four or five years and you've lost yours every year, don't you go get another one, all right? It'll cost you $15 for this. No, I'm just, I think there are dollars. But we're going to give these to the people who just want to get on and walk with God and read a little bit. Important. That's a sign of desire. Start it now. Another sign of desire is your willingness to be devoted to God's priorities. Acts 2.42 says that the disciples devoted themselves. Now, to be devoted means to be completely committed. Some folks are devoted when it's convenient. You know, they woke up today and said, you know, it's a little rainy, honey, and it's a little snowy, and I think that we ought to just stay here and cuddle up and watch, face the nation for the 1500th time. Well, that'll change your life. And some people are going to get real comfortable and they'll forget about what God's promised them to do. I want you to know, if you want desire to stay high in your life, stay devoted to the essentials, the apostles' teaching, the breaking of bread, prayers. Stay devoted to the things of God, fellowshipping together. Very important. And finally, your desire level will be indicated by the degree to which you allow other things to push God out. How many of you know we live in a culture that just gives you a lot of opportunities to put God in the back burner? You may have spent your entire day yesterday watching them get ready to demolish Three Rivers Stadium. What a colossal waste of a day. I mean, 30 years of concrete and asphalt and, you know, uncomfortable seats, and they're going to come down. You know, so what do we do? Do we go have a service or what? I mean, I don't know. But some people made that their day. That was their thing. Well, is it wrong to be intrigued with sports or arts or no? But put it in its right place. Your desire for God will be pushed out by those things if you don't protect it. Cultivate your desire. It is the bedrock of God doing the impossible in your life. Listen, look on your outline. Desire is more important than understanding with God. I want you to know, you don't have to be a spiritual giant. You don't have to have a seminary degree. You don't have to have taught some classes. You don't have to be skilled. You just have to have desire for God to use you. So that's the beginning point. That's the first thing. Without it, you won't see God do great things. But with it, anything's possible. Second, turn your outline over. The impossible happens when we decide to pay the cost. Now, this is directly related to the first item because without desire, you won't pay the cost. How many young men here ever wanted to have a car? I sure did. I mean, I would've done anything to have a car. I desired it so bad, you know, I'd do extra jobs and all that kind of, but it wasn't until I was 16 that I really wanted it, and that's when I got serious. I remember a number of years ago when my two boys were growing up, and they're like early adolescent years, they were like me. They were kind of scrawny. And so I encouraged them, you don't need to work out. Build up some muscle. Be like your dad. And, you know, clearly they were looking at that model and said, well, we're not sure that's going to work. So I, you know, we bought weights and so on, and I just couldn't get them down there to do anything. But once they got to playing competitive sports, one played football, another played basketball for several years, and they got pushed around a little bit, guess what? I didn't need to motivate them. I'd come home and they were, because they were tired of getting pushed around, so they were trying to bulk up. Desire led to the willingness to pay the price. You got to decide to do that. Loved ones, it's the same way with God. If you say, Lord, use my life in the new year, He'll say, okay, you want to pay the cost? You say, no, I just use my life and make it comfortable for me. Forget it. If you say, Lord, be the one in 2001, He's going to say, fine, well, it's going to cost you. You say, well, I thought this was all about grace, Pastor Jay. Now it's not like you're going to have to earn it. You are not earning it. But listen, I see nowhere in the Bible where God does great things through people who could just be sort of careless about it. In fact, Jesus said it this way, he who would come after me must take up his cross every day and follow me. It's a daily journey. Paul said, I have counted all these things as worthless compared to the overwhelming joy of knowing Christ my Savior. Look what happened to Mary. The first verse in your outline. Mary said, I am the Lord's servant, this is on the back page, and I am willing to do whatever He wants. Circle the word whatever. What is whatever? It's whatever. It's anything and everything. So whatever it costs, Mary's saying, Lord, do it. Because I want your will. That's how bad I want it. What did it cost Mary, by the way, loved ones? Well, number one, it cost her her reputation. Listen, being pregnant and unmarried and engaged to somebody that was not the father of your child back in that culture anyhow was not a badge of honor. Imagine Mary trying to explain this to her friends. I see you're pregnant, Mary. Well, who is it? Is it Joseph? No. It's somebody else. Well, not really. It's the Son of God. That's on the same level as an Elvis sighting or a UFO encounter. It just doesn't make any sense. It does not make any sense. I imagine Mary was ridiculed, not just for being pregnant, but for trying to cover it up. And imagine Joseph. He had to bear up under the ridicule that the woman that he proposed to and loved was now pregnant with someone that he said was not his child. And then, how about her comfort? I mean, Mary's life was turned upside down. She had to travel. Listen, I've been to the Holy Land. It's 70 miles over pretty rugged terrain from Nazareth to Bethlehem. 70 miles in a donkey. Try it sometime when you're nine months pregnant. I've never been nine months pregnant, but I can tell you it doesn't look like it would go very well. 70 miles to show up at a town that you're really not part of. No family present to have this baby in a cold stable. And then, after the baby's born, not long after, you want to go home and be with your family, and God says, no, you go to Egypt, to a foreign land, because someone's out to kill the child. I mean, loved ones, it costs her a lot to obey God. God's purposes will always include some challenges and some costs. And every great work that I've ever seen or been part of has always involved the sacrifice and the struggle of some who are really committed to it. And I'll tell you what, a lot of us would nod and say, I'm willing until the time comes down for God to say it's time. Have you ever thought this? Have you ever thought, if I go ahead and yield to God and fully give Him my life, He'll send me someplace like to Tibet, or Africa. You ever thought that? How about Etna? I mean, or someplace really, really remote. A lot of people do. They say, what holds me back, Jay, is that if I give God everything, He's going to make me give up, and then they go down the long list. And I want you to know this, that may be true, but I've discovered it this way. If God calls you to give up something that's important to you, it's because He knows that that is in the way of the best that He has for you. It's always give up something good so He can give you something better. I've never seen God give people something less. The people that I know who've given up a lot, friends, our missionaries all around the world are giving up a lot. They would love to be home this Christmas. They'd love to be here, basking in the glory of a wonderful presentation in a warm facility with people that love them. But they're in lands where people don't want them sharing something they don't really want to hear without the friendship and fellowship of people that they love. But they're doing it because they love Christ, and that's what He's called them to do. And their heart gets filled with the joy and satisfaction of obeying Him. I don't know of any great work that hasn't involved sacrifice. You know, people come by here, or I'll meet people and say, well, gee, it sure is great that the Lord just gave you this land and gave you this building. No, He didn't. We worked hard to be here. You know, it took me 20 stops, 20 different attempts to find our first place to meet in 1981. I couldn't find a single room to what happens. I'd go to a hotel or someplace, and I'd say, well, I'd like to have a church meeting. We're starting a new church. They said, what kind of church? I said, well, it's sort of a community church. Well, around here, they've not heard community churches. They said, no, we don't think so. I'd go to one place, and they said, well, what's the church going to be like? Is it going to be weird? I said, a few of the people are, but it's going to be pretty good overall, you know, and those kind of things. It took me 20 different investigations before I found the restaurant that finally said, well, okay, you can rent a room from us. It always takes sacrifice and struggle. But if you're willing to do it, then the impossible can happen. Let me ask you this. What's currently on your outline holding you back? What is God maybe calling you to pay that you're not quite willing yet? Think about it. What is currently holding me back? Is it maybe your schedule's so full you can't listen to God? Maybe it's a habit that you just refuse stubbornly to give up. Is it a relationship that you know you need to make right? As Helen shared with us, she had to deal with forgiveness before God could really have his way with her. Maybe it's setting aside your personal ambitions or plans or finances so God can do something far greater for you. What a wonderful privilege it would be if you'd open to that. Finally, God does the impossible when we dare to trust his promises. Look at the next verse. Mary asked the angel, how can I have a baby? I'm a virgin. I want to stop right there. Remember a week or so ago, we looked at Zechariah and Elizabeth and Zechariah, when the angel appeared to him, said, hey, how's this going to happen? I'm an old guy and my wife is really old. Remember that? That's paraphrased, but he said, she's in worse shape than I am and how's this going to happen? And the angel kind of rebuked him and what did the angel do? He said, well, because you said that and doubted me, you're going to be mute for the next nine months. You're not going to be able to talk. Now here, Mary seems to say something similar to this. How can I have a baby? Now why doesn't the angel say, well, you're just going to be quiet, girl. Why? What's the difference? Ever wondered that? I'll just submit this to you. I believe that Zechariah's questioning of the angel was a questioning of doubt and a sense of defiance. I believe that Mary's question was a question of mystery. She's saying, because the rest of what she has said here tells me that she was very available and she basically says, I just don't, I don't know how it can happen. And the angel answers her straightforwardly and says, look at the next part of the verse. The Holy Spirit shall come upon you and the power of God shall overshadow you. I want you to see a two-part release of the Spirit over her life that will enable her to fulfill what God wants to do. This is very important. Loved ones, the Holy Spirit is the key to the power of God doing the impossible in your life. Can I say that again? The Holy Spirit is the key to the power of God doing the impossible in your life. Listen, every one of you who are in Christ has the Holy Spirit. If you've been taught otherwise, I want to correct your teaching. Romans 8 and 9 says, he who does not have the Holy Spirit is none of his. So if you belong to Christ, you have the Holy Spirit, but there are moments in your life when the Spirit comes on you. There are moments you may be conscious of and you may not be when you realize that God is doing something unique. Have you ever had the experience where maybe you've had an exchange with someone and you witnessed much more boldly than you normally would in your own self? Or maybe you did something more helpful than you would normally have been inclined to, and you've turned later on and said, gee, that wasn't me. Have you ever had that experience? You said, that wasn't me, that was God. I've had that a lot. And here's the truth about that. You're right. That was not you, that was God. That was the Spirit of the Lord working through you. That's the Spirit coming. Now, he said, that's going to happen to you, Mary. That's the moment that Ruth read about. That's the moment when God came and did his work. But listen, then he says, the power of the Spirit's going to overshadow you. There's a difference between coming upon and overshadowing. The overshadowing, the Greek word there, we have it up on the outline, is called episkiazo. It means to shadow over. Okay, I already said that. Well, what does that mean? Well, when you look in there, it only appears about five or six times in the New Testament, that word for overshadowing. Peter talks about it in Acts and so on. But the word skiazo is from the word skuno, which is the word for tent or tabernacle or meeting place. And what he is saying is this. He's saying, for a moment, we can go back to the previous slide. For a moment, the Spirit will come upon you, but then he will dwell with you over the long haul. You see, that's the momentum of your life. That's what carries you on and not just to having a flash. Folks, I want us to get beyond just having a flash here and a flash there and live in the constant expectation that the Spirit of the Lord is giving you the momentum to do great things for God. That's what he's saying. And this promise isn't just for Mary. This is the promise to anyone who will lay hold of it. The promise to be gracious when you don't feel like it, to forgive when you want to retaliate, to witness when you want to be quiet, to give when you feel like you've already been tapped out, to intervene when you'd rather stay distant. That's what God wants to do through the momentum of his Spirit in your life. Folks, trust God for his promises. Trust God to do through you what seems to be impossible. And you know, sometimes it can happen in very natural ways. I want to close with this story. In Brooklyn, New York, there's a school for children who are mildly learning disabled. The father of a child that went to that school spoke one evening at a fundraising banquet for the school. And after extolling the staff and the administration for their efforts, he kind of changed the tone of his remarks. And he said, but where are the possibilities for my son? He said, we always talk here in glowing terms about greatness and that things are always possible. He said, in fact, we even say that with God, all things are possible. There's even perfection. He said, but my son does not understand things as other children do. My son can't remember his facts and figures like other children. What are his possibilities? He asked. Well, the audience became just a bit uncomfortable by his comments. In fact, they were stunned that he had made this direct sort of confrontation of the issue. And they felt this pain and anguish as he shared. But then as if to answer his own question, he said, he said this, he said, I believe the possibilities that we're talking about are things that God sees in the response of others to my son. But let me tell you a story. He said, and I'll call his son Stevie. One afternoon, he said, Stevie and I were walking past the park with some boys where Stevie knew we were playing baseball. Stevie asked, do you think they'll let me play, dad? Well, his father knew that his son was not all that athletic or coordinated. In fact, most boys wouldn't want him on their team. But still his father understood if his son was chosen to play, you see, it would mean a lot to him. He'd belong. He'd have a sense of affirmation. So Stevie's father approached one of the boys in the field and said, could my son play? Well, the boy looked around to get a cue from the other teammates. Getting none, he took matters into his own hands and said, look, we're losing by six runs. The game's in the eighth inning. I guess he could be on our team and maybe we can even get him off to bat in the ninth inning. Well, Stevie's father was grateful and he smiled broadly. Stevie was told to put on a glove and go out and play in the short center field. In the bottom of the eighth, his team scored a few runs, but were still behind by three. In the bottom of the ninth, Stevie's team scored again and now with two outs and the bases loaded, with a potential winning run on base, Stevie was scheduled to bat. Would the team actually let Stevie bat at this juncture and give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Stevie was given the bat. Everybody knew it was impossible because he didn't even know how to hold it. He went up like this to hold the bat. But the pitcher took a step off the mound and came forward a couple steps and lobbed a light little one in the air and Stevie swung awkwardly