When he was 12 years old, Jesus traveled with his parents — Mary and Joseph — to the city of Jerusalem.
They were traveling in a group, going to the city for the Feast of the Passover. This was common in the time for groups of people from the surrounding areas to make the hike on foot to Jerusalem for the spiritual gathering.
At the end of the journey, Mary and Joseph left with the group, assuming that their son was with someone else in the group. It wasn’t until they reached a different city that they realized they left their son behind in a completely different city.
Honestly, it amazes me how much inspiration the Home Alone movie franchise drew from the Gospel of Luke.
The Bible isn’t the only account of Jesus. He’s mentioned in other religions formed around the same time as Christianity, which makes me think he was a real person. Islamic faith, for example, tells of Jesus as a prophet. The Qur’an shares the story of Jesus making the journey to Jerusalem with his parents, and it includes other stories of a young Jesus being a prodigy — speaking and walking at a young age, and dealing with the struggles of being a more advanced child.
The Bible, on the other hand, only really has one story of Jesus as a child, and that is the story of being left behind at the temple. Other than that, Jesus was born to poor parents. He eventually reappeared at the age of 30 as a rebellious force against the Roman Empire, so powerful and influential with his words that they had to kill him. There’s not much to explain how he went from A-to-B, other than this story of the temple, which is shared across multiple religions.
As an agnostic atheist who grew up inside Christianity, I view all religions as more metaphorical guides to human existence. We are all born, and we all die, but at what point in life do we become ourselves?
Coming of Age
After searching for three days, Mary and Joseph found Jesus in the temple, which was the center of the city.
Jesus was listening to religious teachers, and asking them questions. The teachers were amazed by the understanding that Jesus had of the subject.
Mary walked in, saw this, and dropped something along the lines of “Where were you? Your father and I were worried sick!” To which, Jesus responded: “How did you not know to look for me here?”
Being the agnostic atheist who doesn’t believe in God, I don’t believe in the immaculate conception. I do believe that Jesus was raised by a mother who told stories of her child’s divine greatness, leading to the child to seek out that specific path. By the time he was 12, Jesus could hold conversations with religious teachers. By the time he was 30, he was the teacher.
Before that older life, he had advanced beyond his parents’ comprehension of religion. He reached a point where he could no longer be taught at home the skill that made him a child prodigy. His mother didn’t seem to believe her son was actually the son of God if she didn’t look for him first at the temple — a bit of irony that Jesus was quick to point out.
His parents didn’t understand him, because at that point, Jesus was the adult he would become, and only needed love from those close to him, and guidance from those like him.
Changing in Your 30s
I don’t know when exactly my path was set, though it was around the age of 12. I created my first website around the age of 13, and I knew that I was going to start my own business one day. I don’t think these were ideas I came up with on my own at age 13.
By the time I was 35, I had a successful business running this website. I also didn’t really know what I was.
I think we all reach a point in life where we ask ourselves who we are and what we stand for. What skills do we have, and what can we accomplish with those skills? I feel we all find these answers when we are in our teen years, but we don’t reevaluate until we’re in our 30s.
The reevaluation period doesn’t always lead to change. Some people die at an old age the same person on the same path that they had at the age of 12. Others change their lives and live a completely different path, and that change tends to happen more often in your 30s.
I think the ultimate story of Jesus is that we all reach a point where we have to decide what we are willing to live and die for in this life.
For example, I will die a writer before I will live as anything else. That’s not because anyone told me to be a writer, but because I felt at the age of 35 that this was more my natural calling and purpose in life.
Fortunately, I was already in a writing career. And while I spent the last few days plotting out one of my future novels — where my time traveler goes back in time to attempt to save the life of Jesus Christ — my writing career will always include baseball, because baseball is my true religion.
Somehow, baseball is the easiest way for me to make sense of this world.
Baseball and Religion
What I love about the game of baseball is how much it reflects life. In fact, baseball is a more extreme version of life.
Almost every professional baseball player you read about realized that they were heading down this path during their youth years. Perhaps baseball was the coming of age that gave their life purpose and direction.
Every player in this organization and every other organization is a person. A person who is unsure of their future, following a path based on past success and outside affirmations, and seeking out guidance and coaching from their peers in the world.
Eventually, the best will realize who they are, and what they are capable of. Those people will have the most successful careers at the highest level. That’s typically because while the rest of us average human beings are waiting until our mid-30s to change and adjust, baseball players are asked to do this in their mid-20s.
This coming season, the Pittsburgh Pirates will have a lot of young players making the jump to the majors for the first time in their mid-20s.
At that point, the dream they’ve had since around age 12 will become real. Some of them will step up and embrace that they are in control of this destiny. Some simply won’t want the end goal enough to change.
The reality is that there is no individual end goal in Major League Baseball. Every player gets out of it the effort they put into it. Every player’s goal is based on what they’ve been led to believe is their potential — both in current skills and capacity to change.
MLB is a team sport, and the goal of every player is to play their specific role to help the team. The teams are built by adding the players and skills that combine for the best recipe for winning. Each player is asked to play to their abilities, to provide their own unique contribution. Some abilities from one player can enhance another player. Likewise, some abilities from one player can detract from another player.
I’ve spent most of my time on this site focused on individual player development. At a certain point, every individual player boils down to the same story: Mindset.
All of the tools in the world won’t matter if you aren’t willing to live and die by what makes you unique in the game.
Beyond that, there’s a higher meaning to this game, which comes in the form of team building. In all honesty, that’s the part of the game that drives my interest today.
The New York Mets are perhaps bringing a different biblical story to baseball: David vs Goliath. The Mets are now spending so much that the Pirates could triple their current payroll and still be spending about half of what the Mets are spending. That’s both a condemnation of where the Pirates currently stand, mixed with astonishment of how high the Mets have pushed the outer marker.
The Mets aren’t the only Goliath. Major League Baseball is turning into a land of giants. That’s not to say the small market teams can’t win. It’s just that it takes a well executed shot to pull it off.
History throughout sports shows us that All-Star teams aren’t guaranteed victory. The 1980 United States Olympic hockey team gave us the best example of how miracles in sports can take place against All-Star level teams.
Major League Baseball is starting to provide the type of contrast that sets up the Pirates for those same type of impossible odds.
I guess the question to ask, appropriate as it is for the current season:
Do you believe in miracles?
LAST WEEK ON PIRATES PROSPECTS
**My First Pitch last week dove into the city of Pittsburgh, the Pirates, Major League Baseball, and Misery.
**My column last week looks at whether the Pirates may have found a missing piece from their previously broken development system.
**Last week’s article drop was kept short, due to a lot of people being busy in advance of the holidays. I looked at how the Pirates are slowly stabilizing their roster. Anthony Murphy and John Dreker looked at the development history of Osvaldo Bido.
**We had two Roundtables last week. The first one looked at our favorite prospect stories from 2022. The second one came on Christmas Day, where we each picked a baseball gift we’d want to receive.
**In the weekly Pirates Discussion, Jeff Reed looked at how the Pirates are building around their prospects this year, versus in 2016.
**John Dreker looked at the new pitch that Brad Case is working on this offseason, in the latest Pirates Winter Report.
**Ethan Hullihen has the update on where the Pirates stand with their roster and payroll at this point in the offseason.
THIS WEEK ON PIRATES PROSPECTS
On a normal week, my planning day is Sunday. My writing day is Monday. This week, I’m behind by a day. To make up for that, First Pitch is doubling as Pirates Prospects Daily for Tuesday.
I’ll have the article drop going up in the afternoon on Tuesday. I’ve got two articles toward that. Anthony Murphy will have a look at pitch framing. David Hague will also have his best photos of 2022.
From there, we’re wrapping up the season coverage and starting to look ahead to 2023 in the final week of the year.
I’d like to thank everyone for following along this year. Around this time last year, I was preparing for our first article drop, and wondering if I could do that 52 times in a year — and then some.
This year, I’m wondering if my focus on creating a video feature for 2023 will play out as expected.
SUPPORT OUR WORK
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FUQUAY VINYL PLAYLIST
This week’s playlist has my top new music from 2022. I included 100 songs, and no more than four per album. This isn’t a true top 100 list, since there are some albums this year that have more than four of my favorite songs in 2022.
My favorite new albums this year were “Dawn FM” by The Weeknd, “Melt My Eyez See Your Future” by Denzel Curry, “Cheat Codes” by Danger Mouse and Black Thought, and “Being Funny in a Foreign Language” by The 1975. Overall, it was a banner year for hip hop, with the new Pusha T album falling just outside of my top five, despite listening to that constantly for half a year.
My number one album was “Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers” by Kendrick Lamar. I want to use this space in 2023 to review albums — new and old. I thought I would start by reviewing my favorite album of 2022 to see how it would go.
Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers by Kendrick Lamar
Highly Recommended For: Human Beings
Best Songs: This is subjective to the listener, but I love “Die Hard”, “Purple Hearts”, and “Mirror”. The beat in Purple Hearts puts me in a good mood, no matter what.
Trigger Warning: The song “We Cry Together” is more of a performance, depicting very accurately a toxic relationship plagued by power games and a quick trigger to tear down the other person until power is regained. Anyone who has been in a toxic relationship (everyone?) might want to skip this. I do recommend listening once. By the end of it, you are feeling the tension, and the transition to that “Purple Hearts” beat feels extra smooth.
Social Moment: This album is filled with songs about real life. They’re all powerful. One of the most powerful is “Auntie Diaries”, where Lamar describes his aunts’ transition to a man, as well as a cousin’s transition from male to female. The most impressive thing about this song is how he interchanges the past and present pronouns at a punching pace that make you just let go and follow along as Kendrick emotionally and masterfully lays out struggles from his further marginalized family members, through his eyes — past and present.
If You Haven’t Cried Yet: The song “Mother I Sober” lays out the impacts of generational curses and how they can impact anyone, regardless of financial situations or relationship status. Or, to borrow from “Count Me Out” earlier on the album, Lamar knows “millionaires that feel alone”.
Every Man Should Listen To: “Father Time”. Neat. No chaser.
Album Sleeper: This album features a lot of great cameos. My personal favorite is Ghostface Killer, however, I’ve talked about “Purple Hearts”. I’ll add that Summer Walker is amazing on that same track. My sleeper for the album is Kodak Black. He’s featured almost as a narrator throughout the album. Each one adds to the energy of the album. “Rich (Interlude)” talks of struggles trying to make it, receiving doubt from people you know in the face of success, and ending with the statement “We own property.” It’s a powerful crescendo, reminding of the basic right that every human should have, but which our current systems make so difficult to obtain.
Vinyl Disappointment: The gold version from his web store doesn’t include “The Heart Part 5”, which is more a single with the album. I don’t think any vinyl pressing has it. If it was on the album, it would be my favorite track.
My Favorite Track: Surprisingly, this is not “Purple Hearts” for me. The song “Mirror” gets me out of bed in the morning. It also ends the album on as positive note you can end on this type of album. By this point, you’re emotionally spent, and hearing anyone prioritizing their own growth after facing so much toxicity is refreshing. My favorite lyric comes from this song: “Sorry I didn’t save the world, my friend, I was too busy buildin’ mine again”. It can feel so frustrating being torn between helping a world that seems like it’s burning or drowning everywhere, all while ensuring that your own life avoids hitting burnout or drowning in depression in the process.
Choose yourself. Then, choose people who choose that self. That’s how I’m choosing me. I’m not sorry.
Aftercare: If you’re down after Mr. Morale, and need a lighter touch and something more uplifting, check out “Lavender Days” by Caamp. This is their third album, after a debut in 2016, and my favorite, “By and By” in 2019. This third album has a very uplifting sound all throughout.
WEEKLY PIRATES QUIZ
With these types of quizzes, I always fall apart before 1992.
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