Into the Fire

I’m a firm believer in enjoying a film just for the sake of it or reading a novel for the pure feel-good experience. A Season of Miracles by Rusty Whitener, published by Kregel Publications, and featured in this week’s CFBA Tour delivers that experience in spades. Looking back to the glory days of a Little League team called the Robins and told from the 12 year old narrator’s (Zack) perspective in the 1970’s Alabama sunshine, we get occasional hints that the young man’s view of this particular season is told in its aftermath and from his grown-up acquired wisdom—A Season of Miracles that changed not only one boy’s life but the lives of an entire team.

Okay, you might think it sounds sappy. Too sugary sweet. Maybe even “too Christian”, but it’s a realistic tale of a small town with kids (and coaches and parents) who live and breathe for their Little League games even if they’re not any good and even if they’re not baseball savvy. The idea of belonging to a team even when you’re too small for the batting helmet to fit right or you’re too hefty to run fast or you’re just plain average in your skills, you get to play with your guys and for awhile in life that’s all that really matters.  

When Zack invites a strange kid named Rafer to practice with him and his teammates before the try-outs start for the year, none of them are prepared for what this oddball who barely speaks can do with his bat. With visions of winning a championship against a formidable opponent, these Robins desperately want to beat the cocky Hawks who have a lot of talent, a few bullies, and a Championship under their collective belts—or bats.

This is a story of boys, and one young lady, a dog named Sawdust, baseball, a different boy, his hurting father, and the amazing interaction of a community filled with ordinary people who are allowed to experience the extraordinary in one short Little League season.

The writing is just right to tell this story, and Rusty Whitener never takes advantage of sensitive subjects but gives what makes us feel is an honest account of all those little incidents which expand to become so meaningful in our lives and stay with us through all the other events, large and small, and still carry the same magnitude as when we first experienced them. The sensation of eternity splashing its coveted and perfect moments in our faces to assure us it’s real when everyday we face those who harp against the divine—these flashes of holiness dance through the pages of A Season of Miracles.

To relay any more information about the story itself would be like telling you the ending to a good movie. I’m not going to do it. This is a story for all ages told well and in a way that will elicit tears and laughter and instill hope where perhaps that very thing is what’s so desperately needed. Filled with people you surely know or have known, A Season of Miracles is more about all of us and our journeys in this life somehow captured in a team of young kids, their parents, and those who influence their lives one way or another.

This will make my suggestions for Christmas gifts. It’s a worthy read.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ 0825441919

Father, you know Rusty’s heart is laid out on the pages of this novel and I’m willing to bet in all of his work. Please continue to bless all things he does for your glory and continue to provide that heartfelt prose that makes great stories. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.