Jesus and the Cubbies

I have heard on more than one occasion that if one is a Cub fan, then by association you have to be a Christian.

Predicting when the Cubs will win the World Series is like predicting the return of Jesus and having faith in the Cubs winning the World Series is like having faith that one day Jesus will return to call his children home.

"See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ..(Matthew 24:4-5)" See that no one leads you astray. For many will come saying this is the year of the Cubs.

I heard about the 1969 Cub team that choked down the stretch.

I cried and was furious when the Cubs traded Bill Buckner to the Red Sox (and of course Buckner would go on to play in the World Series with Red Sox).

I was a 6th grader, when the 1984 Cubs came out of nowhere to win their division only to watch Leon Durham pull a Bill Buckner against the Padres and the Cubs miss out on a World Series Trip against the Tigers.

I was a Junior in High School in 1989, when the Cubs once again won their division. But once the playoffs came around, only Mark Grace showed up ready to play. He put on a hitting display for the ages in the playoffs only to be outdone by Will Clark and the Giants and the Cubs once again would not make it to the promised land.

I was a 27 year old in 1998, when a 20 year old Kerry Wood burst onto the scene and struck out 20 Killer B's (the Houston Astros). And that year they rode the young phenom Kerry Wood and the slugger Sammy Sosa to a Wild Card berth only to be swept by the Atlanta Braves.

I was now in my 30's when Kerry Wood was joined by young pitchers Mark Prior and Carlos Zambrano in 2003 and a stacked line up was only 5 outs from the World Series when Steve Bartman reached over the wall and the Cubs collapsed after his interference with Moises Alou and he kept him from catching that foul ball.

Then there were the Lou Pinella teams of 2007 and 2008 that were good teams throughout the year but totally collapsed in the playoffs against the Diamondbacks and Dodgers.

Now here we are in 2016 and once again, we hear the calls that this is the year of the Cubs as they are on a record pace to become one of the best baseball teams of all time. But will this be like all the times before where we think it's going to happen only to be left disappointed.

Ever since Jesus was raised from the grave, people have been trying to predict the second coming of Jesus. In 999 AD there was hysteria surrounding the approaching year 1,000 as many were convinced Jesus was coming. More recently we saw an uptick in those predicting Jesus would come in the year 2,000. People have always been trying to predict the second coming of Jesus.

But we forget one very important thing Jesus said in Matthew 24:36, "But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only". So it begs to follow that if Jesus doesn't know when his return will be how is it that we should know the time and hour of his return?

We look around and we notice that the frequency and intensity of evil is on the rise and it is true that Jesus' return could happen at any time as it appears much of the prophecy surrounding Jesus' second return has taken place but just like the Cubs winning the World Series, only God knows the time, the hour, and the place.

Who knows maybe next year is this year for the Cubs and maybe next year is this year for the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.