Deuteronomy 14:11-18  You may eat any clean bird. But these you may not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, the red kite, the black kite, any kind of falcon, any kind of raven, the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, the little owl, the great owl, the white owl, the desert owl, the osprey, the cormorant, the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat.

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A decade or so ago, a former professor of mine showed up at our office on one of my first days there. He had things he wanted to talk about. We discussed working with his ministry and the North American Mission Board in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. 

We also talked about baseball. He kinda sorta invited (impressed?) me to join the fantasy baseball league he has been running ever since I have known him and that goes back to the mid-1980s. Everyone in this league is involved in Christian ministry. Every team has a Bible-based name. For example, with my first name, what would you expect my team to be called? If you guessed Goliaths, you would be correct. 

Dan’s team? The Golden Calves. 

We also have the Minor Prophets, the Talking Donkeys, Manna Pudding, Jawbones of an Ass, the Deluge, the Babylonian Bashers, the Gaza Road Travelers, and Gideon’s Thrashers. We also have a guy from Austin in our league. You know how those guys are. His team is called Cedar Fever. We are still not sure if this has a verifiable biblical reference. 

There is one other team. It is called the Flying Hoopoes, which we find in today’s Bible verses above. What is a hoopoe you ask? This is a good question you might want to ask Siri on your iPhone. 

Merriam-Webster defines this bird as “a crested Old World nonpasserine bird . . . having a slender decurved bill and barred black-and-white wings and tail.” Wikipedia has a picture. If you want to know the meaning of nonpasserine, our friends at Merriam-Webster tell us it means “not passerines.” How helpful is that? Looking up passerine reveals these birds have feet adapted for perching. So what do non-passerine birds do when they need to land somewhere? You will have to look up this information for yourself. 

The Big Idea today is that we need a little more fun in our lives. Baseball is entertainment. It is my favorite sport. Playing in a league full of preachers is fun. While the whole world tilts toward inevitable conflict as men, women, and children are being slaughtered in Ukraine, Africa, India, and on the streets of our American cities, it is good to know there is a positive alternative. 

There is a better world for those who care to build it or renovate it. There is a better world where baseball and basketball and books and old movies fit us like gloves on a clear, cold day. God is at work in Ukraine and Africa and India and on the streets of our cities. Let’s join him there as we are able. Let’s join him in setting all things right. Let’s join him so that there is more baseball, more basketball, more books and old movies, and many, many times fewer innocent lives lost to evil men’s egos.

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I will join God in the renovation of Planet Earth and the extension of his Kingdom.

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Our Father, I would much rather read about nonpasserine birds than babies blown up in Ukraine. What do we as individuals and nations need to do under your leadership to make that possible? Show us the way we should go. Amen.