~The Ninth Inning ~

Chush is a school that caters to learning-disabled children in Brooklyn, N.Y. At a fund-raising dinner, the father of a Chush child was asked to speak. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he suddenly stopped and cried out, "Where is the perfection in my son Shaya? Everything God does is done with perfection. But my child cannot understand things as other children do. My child cannot remember facts and figures as other children do. Where is God’s perfection?"

The audience was shocked by the question, pained by the father’s anguish, and stilled by the piercing query.

“I believe,” the father answered, “that when God brings a child like this into the world, the perfection that He seeks is in the way people react to this child.”

He then told the following story about his son.

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One afternoon, Shaya and his father walked past a park where some boys Shaya knew were playing baseball. Shaya asked, “Do you think they will let me play?”
 
Shaya’s father approached one of the boys in the field and asked if Shaya could play. The boy looked around for guidance from his teammates. Getting none, he took matters into his own hands and said, “We’re losing by six runs, and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team, and we’ll try to put him up to bat in the ninth inning.”
 
Shaya’s father was ecstatic, and Shaya smiled broadly. Shaya was told to put on a glove and go out to play short center field.
 
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shaya’s team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shaya’s team scored again, and now with two outs, the bases loaded, and the potential winning run on base, Shaya was scheduled to be up. Would the team actually let him bat at this juncture and give away their chance to win the game?
 

 Surprisingly, Shaya was given the bat. Everyone knew it was all but impossible because Shaya didn’t even know how to hold the bat properly, let alone hit with it. However, as Shaya stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved in a few steps to lob the ball softly so Shaya should at least be able to make contact. The first pitch came in, and Shaya swung clumsily and missed. One of Shaya’s teammates came up to Shaya, and together they held the bat and faced the pitcher waiting for the next pitch. The pitcher again stepped forward to toss the ball softly toward Shaya.
 

 As the pitch came in, Shaya and his teammate swung the bat, and together they hit a slow ground ball to the pitcher. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could easily have thrown the ball to the first baseman.
 
Shaya would have been out, and that would have ended the game. Instead, the pitcher took the ball and threw it with a high arc to right field, far beyond the reach of the first baseman. Everyone started yelling, “Shaya, run to first. Run to first!”
 
Never in his life had Shaya run to first. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled. By the time he reached first base, the right fielder had the ball. He could have thrown the ball to the second baseman, who would have tagged out Shaya, who was still running. But the right fielder understood the pitcher’s intentions, and he threw the ball high and far over the third baseman’s head.
 

 Everyone yelled, “Run to second, run to second!” Shaya ran toward second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously circled the bases toward home.
 
As Shaya reached second base, the opposing shortstop ran to him, turned him in the direction of third base, and shouted, “Run to third!”
 
As Shaya rounded third, the boys from both teams ran behind him screaming, “Shaya, run home!” Shaya ran home, stepped on home plate, and all 18 boys lifted him on their shoulders and made him the hero, as he had just hit a “grand slam” and won the game for his team.
 
“That day,” said the father softly, now with tears rolling down his face, “those 18 boys reached their level of God’s perfection.”
 
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 Original paintings by Jim Daly,
used with permission of Christ Centered Art Mall
 
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Chush is a school that caters to learning-disabled children in Brooklyn, N.Y. At a fund-raising dinner, the father of a Chush child was ...

An Athlete's Prayer


Help me to play the game, dear Lord, with all my might and main;
Grant me the courage born of right, a heart to stand the strain…

Send me a sense of humor, Lord, to laugh when victory’s mine;
To laugh, if I should meet defeat, without a fret or whine…

Give me the grace to follow rules, to ‘fess up when I’m wrong,
When silence or some other thing wins plaudits from the throng…

When foes are tough and fighting fierce and I am getting weak,
Dear God, don’t ever let me show a broad, bright, yellow streak.

And teach me, Lord, life’s a game to play just one day at a time.
With Thee as coach and trainer, Lord, real victory must be mine.

Words of Champions

 
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Help me to play the game, dear Lord, with all my might and main; Grant me the courage born of right, a heart to stand the strain… Send me a ...

I CANNOT Say - I CANNOT Pray


I cannot say OUR if my religion has no room for others and their needs.

I cannot say FATHER if I do not demonstrate this relationship in my daily life.

I cannot say WHO ART IN HEAVEN if all my interests and pursuits are in earthly things.

I cannot say HALLOWED BE THY NAME if I, who am called by his name am not holy.

I cannot say THY KINGDOM COME if I am unwilling to give up my own sovereignty and accept the righteous reign of God.

I cannot say THY WILL BE DONE if I am unwilling or resentful of having it in my life.

I cannot say ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN unless I am truly ready to give myself to his service here and now.

I cannot say GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD without expending honest effort for it or by ignoring the genuine needs of my fellow men.

I cannot say FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US if I continue to harbor a grudge against anyone.

I cannot say LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION if I deliberately choose to remain in a situation where I am likely to be tempted.

I cannot say DELIVER US FROM EVIL if I am not prepared to fight in the spiritual realm with the weapon of prayer.

I cannot say THINE IS THE KINGDOM if I do not give the King the disciplined obedience of a loyal subject.

I cannot say THINE IS THE POWER if I fear what my neighbors and friends may say or do.

I cannot say THINE IS THE GLORY if I am seeking my own glory first.

I cannot say FOREVER if I am too anxious about each day's affairs.

I cannot say AMEN unless I honestly say, "Cost what it may, this is my prayer."

-Unknown


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I cannot say OUR if my religion has no room for others and their needs. I cannot say FATHER if I do not demonstrate this rela...