Biendenharn Star Born

For many years, the Biedeharn Ball Park, located in West Monroe, LA, has been home to baseball, softball, soccer, and tee-ball games featuring boys and girls, men and women, of all ages and abilities. Many of the individuals who played on such teams have gone on to have families of their own, and now watch their own kids play sports where they once did. Others have gone on to careers, families, and lives that have led them far away.

It may surprise you, but I, Jacob McGowen, once played tee-ball at Biedeharn. Yes, for a very literal short season, I played sports. While others often post and brag about their current or former athletic achievements,  there is a reason I have never mentioned mine. Yet, there is a better reason for me to share them now.

When I was in the 3rd or 4th grade, I began needing to see doctors more frequently. I also began needing physical and occupational therapy, since some of my motor skills, such as walking in a straight line or catching or throwing a ball, were quite poor.  It was during this time that my mom took me to Melanie Massey, owner of a fairly new clinic called Melanie Massey Physical Therapy.

It was during those days Mrs. Melanie and her other therapists taught me how to walk on one foot, bounce a basketball, throw and catch a baseball. I learned how to do jumping jacks, stretches, basic exercise skills, and how to walk in a straight line. There was also time for me to talk with my therapists, learn how to have conversations, and do the one thing I still don’t like today: work on puzzles.

After about the first year or so, Mrs. Melanie asked if I wanted to be a part of MMPT’s tee-ball team, I quickly said, “Yes.” No one ever asked me to play any sports at all, so to have that invitation made me feel accepted and optimistic about playing ball.

Once spring arrived, I had my shoes, my uniform, my ball cap. For the first few games, I had a great time. While all around me, kids were focused on winning games and championships, every kid on Mrs. Melanie’s team and every parent in the stands, was just focused on having fun. No one cared if you ran the wrong way, threw the ball poorly, or how many times you struck out. In a world of rules and overwhelming competitiveness, those games were a safe space to grow, to have fun, and to learn at your own pace.

One day, after a game, my parents hung around talking to friends from church. I walked away briefly to the concession stand. It was then Carl, a now-former friend, walked up to me from a nearby ball field. He played baseball, not tee-ball. He asked me if I was a part of another baseball team. When I told him I was a part of a tee-ball team with special needs kids, he laughed and said, “You play on a team on with dumb kids? That’s not real sports at all.”

After that conversation, it wasn’t that long before I decided to not play ball with Mrs. Melanie’s team anymore. I also then realized Carl wasn’t really a friend at all.

Words are very powerful. They can hurt; they can divide. It sure didn’t take many words for the Devil to tempt Eve and then Adam in the Garden.

I know the power of such words all too well. It was because of the cruel words of Carl and others, that from that point on I wouldn’t play sports at all, not even board games.  Even though I was disabled, and many games and activities were difficult, I missed out on a lot. Where there were safe spaces, at church, youth group, on mission trips, while others would kindly invite me to join in, I stood on the sidelines. I told myself I was incapable and dumb. One of my greatest regrets in life is not playing soccer in Uganda, while a Ugandan child insistently wanted me to. “I will cheer for you,” I said while watching him and the others play. Deep within me, however, I felt the desire to try.

Disabled or not, there are many people with stories like mine. There are countless people who have been made fun of, not accepted, for whatever reason been singled out as different. In a world where what you do and what you have is so important, people like me just watch everyone else and think, “If only I was normal…”

There is someone, however, who offers a different perspective and a different way to live life. His name is Jesus. When I think about Jesus, I think He sees life as a tee-ball game with Mrs. Melanie’s team. In this game, yes it is hard. You might not understand everything. It may take you a while to hit the ball with your bat or run in the right direction. Yet, in the stands, a “cloud of witnesses” and the “Way-Maker” are there, cheering you on, eagerly waiting for the day when the game is over and you get to meet them face to face.

In conclusion, my challenge, not only for others but myself is, to understand the power of our words and to speak “words of life.” Let’s stop judging people for what they have and what they do. As some friends of mine used to say, let’s “love others hard” and see everyone as Jesus does.

Until Next Time,

Jacobo