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Growing up, many kids love baseball. They love everything about it. They love playing it. The neighborhood kids divide up the big kids and little kids, so the teams are even, and then play inning after inning of baseball or softball either in a front yard or a back yard.

Kids of all ages love collecting baseball cards. Many of the kids my age loved to listen to baseball on the radio. I remember afternoon games, with the radio turned up really loud. The kids would play while they listened. Sometimes they would play flip cards while listening. It's obvious, by the excitement it generates, that baseball is still much loved.

The best thing about baseball was, and is, going to a game. There is something about being in the park. Maybe it's the hot dogs and big pretzels. Maybe it's the slim possibility of catching a foul ball or a homerun ball. I really think it's just the thrill of the game.

Thirty-five years ago, a certain young man started going to baseball games when he was about twelve or thirteen. His father's supervisor lived down the street. The company his father worked for had season tickets. One time the supervisor dropped by and, right in front of the boy, offered those tickets to the boy's father.

Now the boy's father wasn't much of a baseball fan. He certainly wasn't one who enjoyed going to the game. But the father did something that day that the boy would never forget. When offered the tickets, the father looked at his son and said, "Sure, I can use them." Then, when the supervisor left, that father gave those tickets to see the St. Louis Cardinals to his son and three of his son's friends.

The boys all thought the father was going to take them to the ball park. Instead, they went on an adventure. You see, St. Louis has a great public transportation system. Buses run everywhere. There was a city bus stop about a mile from their house. None of the boys had ever ridden anything but the school bus, but their parents had grown up riding the bus. Consequently they didn't think anything about letting the boys ride the bus into downtown St. Louis and the ball park. Of course, 35 years ago, the streets seemed a lot safer.

Anyway, the father took the boys down to the bus stop. He waited with them until the right bus came along and put them on the bus. He told them how to buy a transfer from the driver. And he even talked to the driver. It cost them a whole 65 cents to ride the bus. That first ride was kind of scary though, because they really weren't too sure about that transfer stuff.

When it was time to get off at the transfer stop, the bus driver took time to help them and remind them which bus they needed to get on. The bus driver even made them buy a return ticket and transfer so they wouldn't spend all their money on popcorn and cokes and not be able to get back home. And then he warned them: "Remember now, get on bus number so and so. Don't you be getting on any other bus now, or you'll get lost."

And then the bus left. The boys watched half a dozen buses pull up but they were the wrong ones. They even argued over whether to get on one bus or not because it said it was going to the ball park. But instead, they waited and got on the bus that driver told them to get on.

They made it to and from the ball game just fine. The transfer went without a hitch. As a matter of fact, that was the start of something great. Whenever the father's supervisor had tickets (they were about halfway down the first base line, five rows back) the boys got them. For three dollars they could ride the bus to the ball game and have a coke, popcorn and either a hot dog or a pretzel. Those were the days.

They had a great time. One of the things the young man really remembers, though, is that first trip on the bus. He remembers how scared he was about getting on the wrong bus, though, of course, he didn't want to tell his father or his friends. And then how safe he felt in the hands of that kind bus driver. And how excited he felt when they made that transfer and got on the right bus to the ball park.

So how does all of that fit with today's passage? In his letter to the Colossians, Paul talks about how "God has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of God's beloved Son."

The young man and his friends put their trust in that kindly bus driver. As a result, they successfully transferred to the right bus and made their final destination, the ball game. Paul says that through our faith in Christ, through our redemption and forgiveness, our transfer has already been purchased and made. We've been given proper directions. And in essence, he echoes the bus driver: "Remember now, don't you be getting on any other bus, or you'll get lost."

Paul then goes on to list some prayer concerns he has for the Colossian Church; some concerns that will make them stronger Christians now that they have been transferred into God's kingdom. He prays that they might be made strong through the power of God, that they might have patience and endurance and that they might joyfully give thanks to God in all things. Those are the very things we're going to look at.

Strength

The first thing Paul asks for is that they be strong. But notice this isn't physical strength. This isn't strength that comes from them or from their inner fortitude and resources. This isn't the sort of strength we see in the heroes of the action adventure movies. You know the ones who take on the forces of evil and in a major fight scene are shot, stabbed, and pummeled to the point they can't stand. Then all of a sudden they draw on some inner resource that allows them to have almost super-human strength and abilities. With one mighty act of will and strength they vanquish the villain. That's not the kind of strength Paul is talking about. This strength has its origins in God's grace. Paul prays: "May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from God's glorious power" (1:11).

Paul is reminding them and us that try as hard as we might, none of us can do it on our own. In the world we may be expected to, but in the Kingdom of God, we're called to trust God and rely upon God for strength.

There is a brief story that illustrates this quite well. It seems there was a little boy who was helping his dad work in the garden. One of the things they were doing was picking up rocks. Everything went along fine until the boy came to a fairly large rock embedded firmly in the ground. Dad watched as the boy pushed, pulled, and did everything in his power to move that rock. But it didn't budge. The more he tried, the more frustrated he became. The father walked over and asked his son, "Are you using all of your strength?"

The boy said he was, and the father replied, "No, you're not ..."

The boy stopped and looked at his father, giving him one of those, "What are you, some kind of idiot?" looks that kids can give.

And then the father finished by saying, "You haven't asked me to help."

There is so much power for living the faith that is available from God. All we have to do is get on or stay on the right bus, the bus of grace, not works. We've been transferred into the Kingdom, all we have to do is call upon and rely upon the "strength that comes from the glorious power of God."

We can do that; we can stay plugged in to God's power through daily prayer -- that personal time with God. We can stay plugged in through devotional time. It focuses our hearts and minds on God. We can stay plugged in through daily and ongoing Bible studies. They keep us in touch with God and strengthen us with the "strength that comes from God's glorious power."

Patience

Second, Paul prays that they have endurance and patience. I have always been in awe of long distance runners; those folks who have the stamina to run in a marathon. I know a young man, who, when he was in the ninth grade, decided to try out for the track team. It was there that he first saw the training that cross country runners went through. He was a sprinter. He didn't have the stamina for the long distance. He could run fast for short periods of time, but he didn't have the training or the endurance for the long distances.

I think a lot of people today are living life and faith like sprinters. We have heard life described as a "rat race" and for many people it really is a race. But most people don't see it as a long distance race. They see it as a series of short sprints. They sprint from this job to that or this thing they can't live without to the next thing they can't live without. And when a crisis occurs, they find they have no stamina. They hit the wall and wind up with a faith that is completely out of breath.

Paul reminds us we need patience and endurance. Patience grows from endurance. Endurance comes through the strength God gives us through our faith in Christ. You see, it's really quite simple. It all goes back to Christ and comes from Christ. The more we seek Christ, the more we depend upon Christ. The more time we spend in the presence of Christ, the more strength to endure we are given. And the more strength to endure that we receive, the more patience we develop. We learn to breathe deep of and in the Spirit.

Joyful Thanksgiving

Finally, Paul tells us that we should joyfully give thanks to God in all circumstances.

How are we supposed to be joyfully thankful all the time? Sometimes it's hard enough just being thankful. Sometimes the circumstances of life are such that it seems hard to be thankful for anything, let alone be joyfully thankful. Yet, that's exactly what Paul tells us to be. And again, he starts at the root cause of our thankfulness. That root cause is our relationship with God through Christ. At the heart and center of everything we are and do is God, who through Christ, has transferred us into the Kingdom of God's Son.

As long as we remember that, as long as we stay on board that bus, so to speak, we are assured of our safe arrival and we can and will be filled with joyful thanksgiving.

Somewhere I heard a story about a little boy who was trying out for a part in the school play. He had his heart set on being in it. He didn't care what part he got; he just wanted to be in the play. Mom was afraid he would not be chosen and would come home brokenhearted. On the day they announced the parts, Mom was ready. She waited somewhat nervously and impatiently until her son got off the bus. She watched as he ran to the door filled with excitement. Out of breath, he proudly announced, "Guess what, Mom, guess what? I get to be one of the people who claps and cheers."

In a sense, Paul is saying that we have all been chosen to be the people who clap and cheer. God fills us with God's strength which enables us to endure and develop patience and fills us with the spirit of joyful thanksgiving that allows us to clap and cheer.

Paul's prayer is very powerful. It is a prayer fit for anyone and any church. It is a prayer for God's strength; for endurance and patience and for a spirit of joyful thanksgiving. All of which is possible, Paul says, because we have been "transferred into the kingdom of God's beloved Son through redemption and forgiveness." That's the one thing that undergirds all of this. It begins there and ends there. We have been transferred into God's kingdom through our faith in Christ and that's all we need. God's redemption and forgiveness through Christ covers us, surrounds us, undergirds us, and lifts us up.

Just remember what that bus driver said, "Don't you be getting on any other bus, or you'll get lost."

Rely on God's strength for endurance, patience, and a spirit of joyful thanksgiving.