"A cheerful heart is good medicine but a crushed spirit dries up the bones."The ability to be able to laugh at yourself is a strong trait in a spiritually healthy person. Take the case of one of my all time favorite baseball characters, “Vinegar Bend” Mizell, nicknamed for the Alabama town he grew up in. Describing living conditions in his home growing up, Mizell once said, “One day a fire started in the bathroom, but we were able to put it out before it reached the house.”
- Proverbs 17:22
A left-hander with a blazing fast ball, Mizell was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals after graduating from high school. After spending time in the minors, notably at the ace of the 1951 Houston Buffs Texas League championship team, he was called up to the big league team. He spent seven years with the Cardinals before being traded to the Pirates in the middle of the 1960 season and went 13-5 down the stretch for a team that defeated the Yankees in one of the most dramatic World Series ever. Mizell finished up his career with the New York Mets in 1962 (one of the worst teams in the history of baseball by the way). Later Mizell was elected to the House of Representatives, serving three terms. A dedicated Christian on and off the field, he championed the cause of Christ, and had a special heart for high school and college students.
Mizell once humorously spoke of his effort as the doomed starter in game three of the 1960 World Series. In front of 70,000 fans at Yankee Stadium, he retired only one batter and gave up 5 runs. “If people tuned into the game late on the radio or TV, they missed me completely!” he once said self-deprecatingly. But he still wore his World Series ring with pride, having pitched well during the regular season for Pittsburg.
His delivery was definitely old school. With a slow, arching windup,“Vinegar Bend” would rear back with his leg kicked high and his pitching hand close to the mound. Then he would bring the ball over the top and blow it by a hitter. When asked about his delivery, Mizell would reply with a twinkle in his eye, “Not only did I occasionally touch the mound with my pitching hand, sometimes I would actually knock the ball out of my hand before I could deliver it to the plate!”
One might think a Christian, a Congressman, and a competitive person would be very serious minded and have little reason to laugh, but that’s not the case. Vinegar Bend (his real name, by the way, was Wilmer), realized what many others fail to grasp. A cheerful heart is good medicine. Christians can really laugh with a security -- we know the end of history’s story! We know how it all turns out. Jesus wins in the end. Our enemy is defeated once and for all. Our sins are forgiven, our tears are wiped dry and our future is glorious.
So go ahead and laugh. Snicker at yourself when you drop the ball. Smile when you trip over a crack in the sidewalk. Guffaw with glee when you get the date wrong or forget something. Tell a joke on yourself in a crowd. Those around you will appreciate that you don’t take yourself too seriously. Your ability to laugh might just also help raise someone’s spirits who needs it, and may give them a right perspective the next time they knock the ball out of their own hand.
Your number #1 fan,
Jeff
