Hi Friend & Family
Jim here, thought for today!
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The
Power of Love! They Got The Word!
Be Blessed...
Hearing with the ear and Understanding with the heart!
For by grace you have been saved through faith;
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Read more here Psalm 113:7-8
Your Choice, Thanks Gwynita For Sharing in
Email!
Subject: Two Choices
What would you do?....you make the choice. Don't look for a punch
line, there isn't one. Read it anyway.
My question is:
Would you
have made the same choice?
At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled
children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech
that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling
the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question:
"When
not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does
is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as
other children do. He cannot understand things as other children
do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?"
The audience was stilled by the query.
The father continued. "I believe that when a child like Shay,
physically and mentally handicapped comes into the world, an
opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself,
and it comes in the way other people
treat that child."
Then he told
the following story:
Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay
knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, "Do you think they'll let
me play?"
Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want
someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood
that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a
much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted
by others
in spite of his handicaps.
Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked
(not expecting much) if Shay could play.
The boy looked around for guidance 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
in to bat in the ninth inning."
Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile,
put on a team shirt. His Father watched with a small tear in his
eye and warmth in his heart.
The boys saw the father's joy at his son being accepted. In the bottom of
the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still
behind by three.
In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a
glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his
way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game
and on the
field, grinning from ear to ear as his
father waved to him from
the stands.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now,
with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was
on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.
At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away
their chance
to win the game? Surprisingly,
Shay was given the bat.
Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even
know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the
ball.
However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing
that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in
Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so
Shay could at least make contact.
The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The
pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly
towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit
a slow ground ball
right back to the pitcher.
The game would now be over. The pitcher picked up the soft
grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to
the first
baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end
of the game.
Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's
head, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and
both teams started yelling,
"Shay, run to first! Run to first!"
Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he
made it to
first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and
startled.
Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!"
Catching his
breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling
to make it to the base.
By the time Shay rounded towards second
base, the right fielder had the ball ... the smallest guy on their
team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team.
He
could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but
he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally
threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head. Shay
ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him
circled
the bases toward home.
All were screaming, "Shay, Shay, Shay,
all the Way Shay"
Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help
him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted,
"Run to third! Shay, run to third!"
As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the
spectators, were on their feet screaming, "Shay, run home! Run
home!" Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as
the hero who hit the grand slam
and won the game for his team.
"That day", said the father softly with tears now rolling down his
face, "the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love
and humanity into this world".
Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having
never forgotten being the hero and making his father so happy, and
coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little
hero of the day!
AND NOW A LITTLE FOOTNOTE TO THIS STORY:
We all send thousands of
jokes through the e-mail without a second thought, but when it
comes to sending messages about life choices, people hesitate.
The
crude, vulgar, and often obscene pass freely through cyberspace,
but public discussion about decency is too often suppressed in our
schools and workplaces.
If you're
thinking about forwarding this message, chances are that you're
probably sorting out the people
in your address book who aren't
the "appropriate" ones to receive this type of message.
Well, the person who sent you this believes that we all can make a
difference. We all have thousands of opportunities every single
day to help realize the
"natural order of things."
So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people present
us with a choice: Do we pass along a
little spark of love and
humanity or do we pass up those opportunities and leave the world
a little bit colder
in the process?
A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats it's
least fortunate amongst them.
You now have two choices:
1. Delete
2. Forward
May your day, be a
Shay Day.
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