Baseball episode!
I love baseball, and so, Little Busters notwithstanding, I really enjoy baseball episodes/series. And if you throw in the emotion of the relationship called a battery, I’m done for.
As the student council, with a new two new characters in two, finds their next subject, they turn to a baseball game to bring the pitching ace into their school. But with supernatural powers being wielded, the contest is a farce from the start. The opposing team’s pitcher throws a near-unhittable knuckleball through telekinesis, while in the 9th inning, the student council’s team counters with their own powers.
It’s surprising perhaps, then, that the game-winning hit depends on one not using his powers, as Yuu gives his all sincerely without using his ability. Going into the at bat, he wonders how he could use his power, not even thinking of getting a hit in a legitimate fashion, but Nao insists that he find a way to drive two runs home on his own.
Yuu is understandably apprehensive. He, like many of us, would rather fake it than do things legitimately and risk mediocrity, embarrassment, or failure.
God calls us, however, to do just that for that very end. He wants our complete, honest, sincere surrender, and for us to admit that we cannot live up to a perfect standard. That in effect, he wants us to be on the losing team. He wants us to admit that we are losers.
Only the losers win
they’ve got nothing to prove
They’ll leave the world with nothing to lose
“Loser” by Switchfoot
Yuu is starting to slowly learn that being himself is more satisfactory, despite his limitations, than being a magnificent fraud. Nao’s blunt and sincere methods are starting to have that affect on him, as they do on others. And for us, we can’t begin to grow to know God and to accept His grace unless we accept our own limitations, our sinfulness, and our complete lack of competence in saving ourselves. We can’t be saved unless we shamelessly ask to be saved. We have to become humble, and humility comes with surrendering everything and exposing our real selves.In other words – it’s ultimately only the losers that win.
Haruhi Suzumiya called… she wants her baseball episode back!
With all the baseball-themed series I’ve seen, it wasn’t one of those but HARUHI that immediately came to mind. 😛