Stop and Think

[Guest guest]

This is a cool story I have heard before but thought it was worth passing

on...Hope all is well....Mark

Perspectives....

This will give you cold chills, but puts life into perspective!

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled

children, the father of one of the school's 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.

" Everything God 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 God's plan reflected in my son? "

The audience was stilled by the query. The father continued. " I

believe, " the father answered, " that when God brings a child like Shay

into the world, an opportunity to realize the Divine Plan presents

itself. And it comes in the way 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 will let me play? " Shay's father knew that most boys

would not want him on their team. But the father understood that if his

son were allowed to play it would give him a much-needed sense of

belonging.

Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked if Shay

could play. The boy looked around for guidance from his teammates.

Getting none, he took matters into his own hands and said, " We are

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. "

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but

was still behind by three.

At the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the

outfield. Although no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just

to be 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 bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base. Shay

was scheduled to be the next at-bat. Would the team actually let Shay

bat at this juncture 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 moved a few steps to lob the ball in softly so

Shay could at least be able to 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

toward Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and 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. Shay would have

been out and that would have ended the game.

Instead, the pitcher took the ball and threw it on a high arc to right

field, far beyond reach of the first baseman. Everyone started yelling,

" Shay, run to first. Run to first. " Never in his life had Shay ever made

it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and

startled. Everyone yelled " Run to second, run to second! " By the time

Shay was rounding first base, the right fielder had the ball. He could

have thrown the ball to the second baseman for a tag. But the right

fielder understood what the pitcher's intentions had been, so he threw

the ball high and far over the third baseman's head. Shay ran toward

second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously circled the bases

toward home.

As Shay reached second base, the opposing shortstop ran to him, turned

him in the direction of third base, and shouted, " Run to third! " As Shay

rounded third, the boys from both teams were screaming, " Shay! Run

home! " Shay ran home, stepped on home plate and was cheered as the

hero, for hitting a " grand slam " and winning 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 the Divine Plan into

this world. "

And now, a footnote to the story. We all send thousands of jokes through

e-mail without a second thought, but when it comes to sending messages

regarding life choices, people think twice about sharing. The crude,

vulgar, and sometimes the obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but

public discussion of decency is too often suppressed in school and the

workplace.

If you are thinking about forwarding this message, you are probably

thinking about which people on your address list aren't the

" appropriate " ones to receive this type of message.

The person who sent this to you believes that we can all make a

difference. We all have thousands of opportunities a day to help realize

your God's plan. So many seemingly trivial interactions between two

people present us with a choice: Do we pass along a spark of the Divine?

Or do we pass up that opportunity, and leave the world a bit colder in

the process?

You have two choices now:

1. Delete this.

2. Forward it to the people you care about.

You know the choice I made.