Where is God's Perfection?
In Brooklyn, New York, Chush is a school that caters to learning disabled
children. Some children remain in Chush for their entire school career,
while others can be mainstreamed into conventional schools. At a Chush
fundraising dinner, the father of a Chush child delivered a speech that
would never be forgotten by all who attended.
After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he 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 Shaya: 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
knew that his son was not at all athletic and that most boys would not want him
on their team. But Shaya's father understood that if his son was chosen to play
it would give him a comfortable sense of belonging.
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 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." Shaya's father was
ecstatic as 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 and the
bases loaded with the potential winning run on base, Shaya was scheduled to be
up. Would the team actually let Shaya bat at this juncture and give away their
chance to win the game? Suprisingly, Shaya was given the bat. Everyone
knew that 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 a few steps to lob the ball in 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 took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly toward
Shaya. As the pitch came in, Shaya and his teammate swung at 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 on a high arc to right
field, far beyond 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 tag out Shaya, who was
still running. But the right fielder understood what the pitcher's
intentions were, so he threw the ball high and far over the third baseman's
head. Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second." Shaya ran towards
second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously circled the bases
towards home. As Shaya reached second base, the opposing short stop 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 with tears now rolling down his face,
"those 18 boys reached their level of God's perfection."
Funny how this is so true and shame on us! Funny how simple it is for
people to trash God and then wonder why the world is going to hell.
Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the
Bible says. Or is it scary?
Funny how you can send a thousand 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread
like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the God and
spirituality, people think twice about sharing.
Funny how the lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene pass freely through
cyberspace, but the public discussion of God is suppressed in the school
andworkplace.
Funny isn't it? Funny how someone can be so fired up for Christ on Sunday,
but be an invisible Christian the rest of the week. Are you laughing?
Funny how when you go to forward this message, you will not send it to many
on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what
they will think of you for sending it to them.
Funny how I can be more worried about what other people think of me than
what God thinks of me. Are you thinking? |
