Dave Ferriss — The Inner
Conversation
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6
I talk to God about everything. I can be driving a car or walking or sitting around with friends enjoying a conversation. It doesn't matter. He's always present. And I can turn to Him instantly with any question, any problem, any small joy or sorrow.
Of course I've turned to Him in some pretty exciting and challenging moments too.
I'd just gotten out of the service in April of 1945 when I was called up by the Red Sox from their Louisville farm club. I had seen only two major league ball games when I found a baseball in my locker one day. The Red Sox have a way of notifying a rookie pitcher who is to work his first game. No one says anything to him. He just finds a baseball in his locker.
When I saw this baseball lying there in my locker for the first time, I began to feel weak in the knees. The other players changed their uniforms and trotted outside to warm up, but I stayed behind in the locker room. I prayed for strength and courage.
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I prayed that God would permit me to play the best game I was capable of.
Later, on the mound, looking down the line at the first batter, I was still shaky but beginning to feel that God was going to take care of things. I was pitching against Bobo Newsom of the Philadelphia Athletics in front of 30,000 people. I'd never seen that many people together in one place in all my life.
Out of my first fifteen throws to the plate, fourteen were balls. Only God knows why I wasn't pulled out of the game right then. The bases were loaded. And the count mounted to 3 and 2 as Dick Seibert faced me at the plate. The only pitch that wasn't a ball had been popped up. So there was one out.
Strange to say, during all of this, I was growing more quiet inside, more certain that God would not fail me.
Then suddenly there was a grounder to short. Skeeter Newsom grabbed it, stepped on second and threw to first for a double play. The threat was over.
I went on in that game to pitch a shut-out.
Sometimes you don't win though. In the World Series of 1946 against the Cardinals, I prayed again that I'd be permitted to do my best. I pitched a 4-0 shut-out in the third game. I started the seventh game but was pulled in the fifth inning. We went on to lose the game and the series by a 4 to 3 margin.
In 1949 I prayed for strength without much apparent success. That was the year I injured my shoulder. Nothing can be a greater disaster for a pitcher. It looked as though I was finished with baseball. I just couldn't make the ball go where I wanted it to. I grew more and more discouraged.
Little by little though, I began to see that God had other gifts to give besides strength and courage. In 1950 I was back in the minors playing in Birmingham
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and Louisville. But I was discovering that God still owned the universe.
It was at Louisville that I was first given the opportunity to coach and a few years later I was moved back to the Red Sox as a full-fledged pitching coach. I'd learned the meaning of the verse, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).
I learned too that God always answers even when we don't know exactly what to pray for. These "surprises" have led me to my present prayer habits. I don't try to figure out exactly what I want and then fire off a single petition. God isn't running a mail-order business where it's important to get each catalog number correct on the order blank.
Jesus is a friend of mine. And you can "let your hair down" with a friend. You can be yourself and admit you don't know what you'd like or what's best for you.
You can't rush friendship either. Just as God permits us time to find ourselves and respond to Him, He requires time to work out His will in our lives. Waiting upon God is just as important as prayer itself.
A few years ago the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. asked me if I would write a small pamphlet on the subject of tithing. I'm no writer. The prospect of putting together this tract filled me with more dread than facing a battery of major-league batting stars. So I prayed about it. I talked to God about my limitations in this area. And in the silent recesses of my heart, He talked back. Soon I became convinced that He wanted me to write the tract anyway.
I had several months to get the material together and
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during the first few months, almost nothing occurred to me. Then, little by little, the thoughts began to come. After a night game in Kansas City, I got on a train for Chicago and settled back in my seat. Almost unbidden, thoughts on this subject began to flow through my mind, arranging themselves in an orderly fashion. I dug out my pencil and began to scribble. There was no effort. Three days later, it was all wrapped up.
I sent it to Presbyterian headquarters and according to their latest report the pamphlet, entitled, "The Thrill of Tithing," is still being extensively used.
Prayer is conversation. The best prayer is spontaneous, unstilted and genuine. The important thing is the desire to keep in touch with God. It doesn't take a lot of knowledge or effort or a big vocabulary. It doesn't take a lot of preparation or a special time of day.
Start now. Right now. Don't think thoughts by yourself. Share them with God. Tell Him how you feel. Nothing is unimportant or uninteresting to Him. Don't worry about offending Him by not "saying it right." Look at Abraham and Job and Jacob and Jonah. They weren't perfect men. Some of their prayers were not exactly admirable. But there's one thing these men didn't do: they didn't stop praying. And so they were blessed.
You can be too!
Prayer
Dear Lord, teach me the habit of unceasing prayer. Grant me the joy that comes from knowing Your companionship. Help me to turn to You quickly, spontaneously, as one friend to another. And grant that I may start enjoying this experience right now. I ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.
Dave Ferriss was a twenty-five game winner and pitching coach with the Boston Red Sox. Athletic Director, Delta State College, Cleveland, Mississippi.
