A woman, an intern, and a baseball game

Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people. – Philemon 1:7 NIV

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. – Romans 15:5-6 NIV

Carrie Wehrman // 2022 Summer Intern

I was at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City for a Royals baseball game during the intern retreat. All of the interns were walking over to our seats in the stadium, weaving in and out of the crowds of people. Ya know when you’re walking in a group, and people start changing their stride so that they will fall in line with the people they want to sit next to? Or they are at least changing their pace so that they don’t have to be the one leading the group? Well, yeah. That was happening with all of us, even myself. I wanted to sit in the middle of the group in the row, so I would have the easiest access to all the conversations and be able to get to know the other interns better. Nobody seemed to want to be on the end or to take the lead. After the awkward changing of pace, however, I decided to just take the lead and lead us to our seats. Besides, I thought, maybe there would be a random person watching the game that I could talk to since I would be on the edge of our seats. 

So I led us into row JJ, seats 6-11. And sure enough, there was a woman in seat 12! I approached my seat, smiled at the woman, and said hello. Then I settled into my seat and chatted with the interns next to me. After a few minutes, the woman turned to me and asked what group we were a part of. 

I explained that we were from Nebraska and we were all interns with Fellowship of Christian Athletes for the summer. Her eyes lit up as she exclaimed, 

“FCA?! I know FCA! My son was really involved with that in his college years.”

This was an exciting start to our conversation. We discussed FCA, what my internship this summer would entail, and other general information, like where I attended college, what year in school I was, and what I was majoring in. 

At this point, I had to pause the conversation. We hadn’t even exchanged our names! She told me her name was Mary. Additionally, at this point, the baseball game hadn’t even started, but I had already made such a great connection.

Throughout the rest of the baseball game, I was able to chat with Mary and get to know her. I asked her questions about her job. She told of how she faithfully worked in insurance for many years, until she retired four years ago. Now, she and her husband, who was sitting next to her at the game, have been traveling across the US trying to visit all the MLB stadiums (currently, they have visited 26/30 stadiums!!), taking visits to see their children and grandchildren, and enjoying being heavily involved at their church. I asked Mary about her family, and she happily showed me pictures and videos of her beautiful children and grandchildren. Sprinkled here and there in our conversation, she would mention something about God or about church. I pressed into this at one point and asked her if she grew up going to church. 

This sprouted an entire new portion of our conversation. Mary opened up about her past, sharing her testimony with me. She shared how she had been dead in sin, but then she shared the moment that she became alive with Christ. She talked of the moment she knew she was in desperate need of a savior, and repented and believed. She went on to tell me of many ways she has seen God’s provision, goodness, and continual pursuit of her throughout many things in life. Mary’s story was one of radical transformation through Jesus.

Through the rest of our conversation that evening, Mary shared bits of wisdom and encouragement in the truth that naturally flowed out throughout our conversation. I could see evidence of the transformation and the work that God had done in Mary’s heart. She and her husband even noticed a teenage boy sitting alone a few rows down, and graciously initiated a conversation with him. The ways that they were making others around them feel seen and known was awesome.

At one point in the game, Mary pulled her phone out. She pointed the camera at my face and said, “smile!” While it may be strange to know that a woman I had just met about an hour previously now had a photo of my face on her phone, right after she took the photo, she looked at me and told me she would be praying for me and for my internship. And after meeting Mary, I have no doubt that she is faithfully doing just that.

Soon the game ended. The Royals won, by the way (woohoo!!). As we got up to leave, I hugged Mary goodbye. I thought back to all that had happened in the last few hours. I thought back to my thoughts about leading our interns into the row at the baseball stadium, and how I had thought, maybe, just maybe, there would be someone I could interact with next to me. Sure enough, seat 12 was filled, even though I saw countless seats that were empty all around where we were sitting. But seat 12 was filled. I sat in awe of God for a moment, knowing that it was only Him who could have orchestrated the tickets that night. I was so encouraged by my meeting with Mary and the conversation we were able to have.

We didn’t exchange any contact information or anything like that, so even if I never get to see Mary again on this earth, I can be encouraged that we will meet again someday in heaven. And that is pretty sweet.