As I spoke to our player on first, “Watch the pitcher,” the pitcher he was supposed to watch picked him off.

Why?

Because the first-base coach (that would be me) distracted his own base runner.

Sheesh! I’ve got a lot to learn about coaching this game.

And I am learning.

A lot.

Here are some of the lessons I’ve learned.

1) Making mistakes isn’t a mistake unless you don’t learn from them. I’ve made three egregious errors as a coach (actually more but who’s counting?)—overestimating my player’s speed while underestimating their outfielder’s arm, distracting my own base runner while he’s off the base, and yelling “Go, go, go!” when a player missed a steal sign (that tips off the opponents, not a good idea).

I pencil the mistakes into my memory and then don’t repeat them.

I want to note something important here. My mistakes become lessons to better me, not batter me. I don’t say, “Oh, stupid me!” Instead, I say, “Well, Tom, lesson learned. Don’t do that again.”

2) Seek out the wise and skilled. I don’t know much about coaching baseball, but I know those who do. Some are older. Some are younger. All of them are wiser and more skilled than I. If I want to improve (and I do), I find those guys.

3) Listen and learn. In a post-game bus trip, the four coaches, including me, sat up front. The other three talked baseball. I listened.

On occasion I asked a question but, for the most part, I kept my mouth shut and my ears open.

Kari Scare wrote a comment after my previous post, “2 Sentences You Don’t Want to Hear … Together!” that lines up well with this post. She said, “I’m in a group of people regularly who can teach me about being more welcoming. So, I might not be great at welcoming others, but I am learning and getting better at it by watching those who do it so well.”

Her statement highlights a great reason why I love community. We can learn from one another and live better lives for Christ.

I’m curious. What are you learning and who helps you with the lessons?

Recommended reading:

Jeff Goins’ “How to Find Your Life’s Treasure”

Donald Miller’s “Blue Like Jazz Box Office Update” (note: I check rottentomatoes.com when I evaluate movies. Often the critics and the general populace agree, but sometimes they are world’s apart. In Blue Like Jazz‘s case, a major disparity exists between the critics and the public.)

My top 3 posts in the last 7 days:

“2 Sentences You Don’t Want to Hear … Together!”

“I Bet You Stop the Story Too Soon”

“Can Angels Be Christian?”

You can find my novel, Dark Eyes, Deep Eyes, at:

WestBow Press

Amazon.com

Barnes & Noble

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