NEW PROJECT: FIELDS OF GRACE

You are invited to participate in Michael O’Connor’s new book, tentatively titled, “Fields of Grace.”

To participate by completing our questionnaire, please click here.

Dear Baseball Fan,

Thank you for taking the time to visit my web site. I invited you here with the hope you may be able and willing to help me with a book I am writing—or, more accurately, compiling—with the help of men and women who love the game of baseball. The book is tentatively titled, Fields of Grace and does not yet have a publication date.

In my first book, Sermon on the Mound: Finding God at the Heart of the Game, I laid the foundation for the unusual notion that God loves baseball and He uses it for His own good purposes. The book, published by Bethany House in 2001, details how God used the game I cherish above any other as a means to teach important lessons and draw me closer to Him.

From the many letters and e-mails I have received in the past year I know I am not alone. Since God will use any number of methods or circumstances to gain our attention, why wouldn’t He use a game so many are committed to or enthralled by to speak with us?

I would like you to answer one simple question for me. By doing so you will not only have the chance to impart your views to thousands of people regarding your love for the game, but also be able to share with them the awe and wonder of what God has done in speaking to you and touching your life outside—or maybe between—white chalk lines.

And guess what? There is even a small honorarium that goes along with this for those whose stories find their way into the book. But more about that later.

In the following section you will be asked to fill out a short list of personal information. Some fields are required; others are optional. This data will assist me in understanding your baseball background as a player and/or fan—hence, the context of your answer. It will also help me find you when it’s time to send your reward for helping me out.

When you click the button below you will be taken to the next page where you will find a questionnaire to fill out. Once you complete the background information there is one question I hope you will be able to answer using somewhere between 50 and 750 words.

You may feel, upon reviewing the question, you have no appropriate answer. But before you decide to bail out of the process I encourage you to take a moment and pray about it. God may just be looking for a way to work through you and it would be a shame to miss that blessing. You may think you don’t have any answer to the question. You may be thinking you don’t possess the gift of putting words down on paper in an interesting way.

All I can tell you is when I was writing Sermon on the Mound God showed me so many incidents from my baseball past that were stored way down deep where they were never expected to see the light of day again. But as I wrote I also prayed. And God opened that cellar of memory and a flood of recollections came pouring forth. He can do the same for you if you give Him the opportunity.

Finally, I want to thank you in advance for taking the time to consider and, perhaps, participate in this little adventure of faith. I value your time and really believe God is going to use a great many of us to assemble a pearl of great price—just as he did with another best-selling book more than a few centuries ago.

Sincerely,
Michael O’Connor
Author
Sermon on the Mound

To participate by completing our questionnaire, please click here.