Finally!
Finally, after 108 years, the Chicago Cubs have won another World Series.
I live in Ohio, so I should be feeling the pain of Cleveland losing, but it’s impossible not to celebrate along with the Cubs.
I read a story as a boy that no one could possibly relate to today, a first-person story of a boy whose school had a dress code so he wasn’t allowed to wear sneakers all year long. I don’t remember (forgive me, but it must have been 50 years ago!) what kept him from wearing sneakers on evenings and weekends. What I do remember is his ecstasy at finally being able to put on a pair, when school was over for the summer. It made him so happy, he said he almost felt sorry for other kids who got to wear sneakers all year around — they would never experience that same once-in-a-year “At last!” sort of joy that he felt then.
Few of us in America have gone a school year without sneakers, but the Cubs went more than a century without a World Series championship.
You don’t have to be a baseball fan to appreciate the patience with which they’ve been waiting for this. They kept going — their loyal fans following along — through the 1984 heartbreak season, two not-very-close calls in 1989 and 1998, and then a seasons-long turn in the wrong direction beginning with tough championship series losses in 2003. It would be more than a decade before they would win another post-season game.
Then at last, on Wednesday night, they ended their long drought.
Or should I say Thursday morning? Because the game went long. The Cubs almost lost it again. They had taken an early lead, but lost it when Cleveland scored 3 runs in the eighth inning to tie the game. It stayed that way through the ninth.
And then — speaking of droughts! — if losing their lead wasn’t enough to dampen their spirits, it started raining. It rained so hard the game had to be delayed 17 minutes.
(What do you do when the game is tied after nine innings in the deciding game of the World Series, and it starts pouring rain? Finish it next week? But we’ve got another winner to decide next week!)
Still, when play resumed, the Cubs returned to the field with renewed vigor. And in the 10th inning, they won it. I don’t think there’s ever been a more jubilant championship team. I’ve never seen fans celebrate quite like they’ve been celebrating in Chicago. It reminded me of images of V-Day parades at the end of World War II —which on an entirely different level shared something in common with the Cubs’ victory: there was something desperately wanted and long delayed, which finally (though with grievous loss along the way) came to pass, with overwhelming joy.
We’re all in a long championship game. I have to inject a sober note: Losing’s a certainty — and the loss is eternal — if you don’t follow the right Captain. Jesus’ followers know that He has already won our victory, defeating sin on the Cross and overcoming death on Easter morning. Unlike the team that used so often to be called “the hapless Cubs,” we know we’ve got a big victory celebration coming. I don’t know much about what eternity will be like, but I know it’s going to be good.
It’s going to be so good we’re going to say the long wait was worth it.
Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier on service gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to satisfy the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will grant you understanding in everything. (2 Tim. 2:3-7)
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:58)
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. (Romans 8:18)