Facing Our Frank Larys

As a pitcher for the Detroit Tigers in the 1950s, Frank Lary earned the nickname "Yankee Killer." He compiled a 28-13 career record over the Bronx Bombers--including a perfect 7-0 mark against the eventual World Series champions in 1958. So strong was Lary's grip on the Yankees that manager Casey Stengel once shuffled his pitching rotation so Whitey Ford would not have to face him. "If Lary is going to beat us anyway," he reasoned, "why should I waste my best pitcher?"

Perhaps Stengel's Yankees could afford to wave an occasional white flag. But in the game of life we don't have that option. God calls us to give our all every time we take the field--especially when the odds seem to be against us. Faced with our own Frank Larys, we can't let the fear of losing cause us to give less than our best.

This point is well illustrated in a wonderful book called Come Sunday: Inspiration for Living With Heart by Paul C. Stomper, MD. (www.ComeSunday.net) As a cancer doctor, musician and athlete, Stomper draws insight from all three callings to reflect on our life in God. In a chapter titled "The Spirit of an Athlete," he presents a simple yet profound premise about fear.

Some athletes play with a fear of losing, because losing hurts. They've sacrificed and invested heavily but didn't get the outcome they expected. Some are tempted to decrease their investment, so when they lose it doesn't hurt as much. Decreased investment leads to decreased preparation, so losing becomes a foregone conclusion.

Stomper quotes Reggie Witherspoon, basketball coach at the University at Buffalo: "If you try to avoid the pain of losing, then you'll never win."

In Come Sunday Witherspoon supports this premise by relating a junior college coaching experience when his team lost a close game because of an obvious lack of investment:

"We lost. But I noticed that pain didn't seem to be evident. The loss was dismissed rather early. There was disappointment, but not a lot of pain or hurt."

The next day he held a team meeting and discussed what it's like to be hurt, not just by a sport, but by life:

"We talked about what our options are after that. Do we now withdraw everything and never invest at all in this relationship or this outcome that we desired? And if we do that, we don't experience the pain, but we will never experience the joy of winning either, the joy of being successful or of having a good relationship.... And if we do have that total investment of our emotions and our energies, but we fall short of our goal, then it's OK to have that pain--it's supposed to hurt because that will drive you to prepare harder the next time."

Or as Eugene Kennedy wrote in The Pain of Being Human: "We are grateful, too, that we bear these scars that are the proof that we have said yes to life."

We have no greater example of how to deal with the fear of losing than Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Knowing the complete self-sacrifice that was required of him--and the physical and spiritual pain his "loss" to death would entail--Jesus prayed: "Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done." (Luke 22:42)

Yes, Jesus "lost" on Good Friday, but it had a redeeming purpose. He rose to glorious victory on the third day, and promises that all of our losses will eventually result in glorious triumph as well, if we join ourselves to him and remain faithful to his call.

So bring on the Frank Larys in our life--united with Christ we'll win no matter what.