So, I've been on a bunch of baseball teams and I can think of a few that I was on.

I've been on a bunch of baseball teams and I can think of a few that I was on where we were terrible at the beginning

Just it weren't bad people or anything we just weren't very good at baseball

We didn't understand where to be it wasn't cohesive when we came out to warm up and

take in field nobody really knew what to do and it's looked what you call in the

baseball biz bush league it looks bad but on these couple of teams that I played on, we had really

good coaching and over time everybody figured out where they were supposed to be and

what they're supposed to do and even if we weren't the best at baseball, it looked like a very well-organized

product and like everybody understood their role and like we were getting the

best out of what we had to work with by the end of the season. It was very satisfying.

I remember being out there at shortstop, taking in field and getting all set to play the last

game of our season with one of these teams and looking around and being like this is

really cool we've come a long ways everything is working we might not beat this team

but everything is working and we've done the very best once again with what we have is a very cool thing.

Likewise, in Nehemiah Chapter 12, we get that kind of moment where we can stop from

our metaphorical short-stop position, then look around the metaphorical ball field and say,

huh, this feels different than the rest of the Old Testament because everyone is where they're supposed to be.

This ragtag band has become really fairly polished.

Everyone understands their role and their tasks, everyone is communicating well, the leadership

and coaching is strong and all the things that need to be accomplished are being

accomplished, we're all pulling in the same direction for maybe the first time in the Old Testament.

Certainly one of very few occasions in the Old Testament where we're all pulling together,

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