Bottom of the Ninth #94 - Moving With the Holy Spirit

by Keith Wahl

Matthew 4:19, “Follow Me.”

In November of 2006, my daughter, Mia, was born. I was teaching at Mountain Vista High School - a place that I had helped to open as the Head Baseball Coach. We were blessed with a tremendous amount of success early in that program’s history. We won two Continental League titles (arguably the toughest league in the state of Colorado) and had been the state runner-up in 2006. We had Division 1 and other college baseball players flocking to the school, a total of 13 in just three graduating classes. We were building something special and there was no reason to even consider leaving. Until…

My wife and I had saved up enough to allow her to stay home longer than the normal maternity leave to be with our daughter. On something of a gloomy, snowy day in January during that leave, I received a text message from my wife. That might not sound like a big deal, but I can safely tell you that the two of us did not exchange text messages before this. It may have been the first I had ever received from her, and it took me off guard.

“Have you thought any more about the Valor thing?”

I was sitting in my classroom at Mountain Vista between English classes and my internal response was, “No I haven’t thought any more about the Valor thing. We just finished as the state-runner up, we’ll be the preseason #1 and favorite to win state, and I love where I’m at. Why would I think any more about the Valor thing?”

But I did. I could see the school from the window of my classroom and I couldn’t help but look down the hill at the new construction. The Holy Spirit prompted my wife to send a text that would cause me to think about it deeply, and reach out to the people at Valor that day. Before I knew it, I was meeting with Rod Sherman, the newly named Athletic Director from California, and Kurt Unruh, the Head of School. And before I knew it, I was heading to a new journey at Valor Christian High School.

While someone might look at the decision now, looking around at all of the banners and success, and say the move was obvious, no one could have known what the Lord had in store for Valor when it opened. Ultimately, what I did was act on the words of Christ when he called on His disciples to, “Follow Me.” What He has done in this place and in my life since has been nothing short of extraordinary.

No matter the form, be it a text message, a friend speaking into your life, or the audible voice of God, moving with the Holy Spirit will send you on a journey you will never forget. Follow Him.