God's Gift to Write is in My DNA

By Marvin Ferguson

I thank God for the gift to write and be a published author. It's an exhilarating experience that I will never forget.

It would have been great if I were lucky enough to be a professional league baseball player, but it wasn't meant to be. Instead, my passions went into a different direction, and as a die hard Cub fan, I put the play-by-play action on the playing field and wrote three baseball stories for Junior High students to enjoy.

Like anything else worth achieving, it requires hard work. And little did I realize it then that my childhood would prepare me to write. Yes, God provides.

At twelve years of age I purchased some plastic baseball players off a cereal box. Like the Little Rascals I made a ball park out of scrap wood I found in the back of a grocery store and some green and some gray construction paper, barrowed a spinner from another game, kept score, and played baseball to my heart's content.

With a compass I drew a baseball diamond and made some dugouts up against a four-inch wall. The shape of each player intrigued me and I was able to be anybody I wanted to be—Ernie Banks, Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Lou Brock, Stan Musial, and more. I gave the teams a name, created my own lineup, and even became a broadcaster in the TV booth. There wasn't anything I couldn't do, it was fun, and fueled my imagination to write latter in my adult life.

If we allow God to work in our lives, He will prepare a way. Amen! Thank you God for giving me an interest in baseball and a desire to write.