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Subject: May 13, 2005 - Angels 3, Indians 9 - Daily Devotional
Date: Fri, 13 May 2005 03:04:51 -0700
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May 13, 2005
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Angels 3, Indians 9
by John Fischer
My great birthday seats at the ball game, courtesy of my wife, came and went much too quickly for me. I’m only glad my wife prepared me for this by printing in her announcement of this special gift: “Do not cry when the day is over; smile because it happened.”
She must have known I would not be celebrating a win, but it did happen, and I was there — close enough to see the veins in Steve Finley’s arms, the pine tar on Vladimir Guerrero’s batting helmet, and hear the ball hit the not-so-sweet spot on Orlando Cabrera’s bat.
Unfortunately Vladimir went 0 for 4 and my team showed up for the first two innings (three runs) but then proceeded to leave too soon for their upcoming road trip, as their bats fell silent for the remaining seven, and they lost to a final score of 9-3. So there was no dancing with Vladimir, no home run trot, no fireworks, just a great seat (third row behind home plate) on a warm day, and a buddy to share it all with. And all of that was tremendous.
Of course it would have been nice to have something to cheer about past the third inning, but that wasn’t such a big deal. After all, this is America’s pastime and with 163 games, your team is going to have some down days. The deal is to pass the time and enjoy passing it, whatever happens. This is why baseball is a lot like life with its down days as well as its up. The key is how we handle them.
As I shared all this with my wife afterwards (she wanted to know every detail), she came up with the story of the prodigal son, and how the father passed a lot of time waiting for his son to show up, not even knowing if he ever would. She equated that with my passing time on what appeared to be a losing effort. Sometimes we have to do that. Faith allows us to wait on others even as we wait for God’s will to be made clear. The father certainly didn’t sit on the porch and wring his hands all the while his son was out blowing his inheritance. The father was waiting on those who were his responsibility — those who stayed — even as he waited for the one who left.
By about the seventh inning when things were starting to look pretty bleak even for a comeback, I told my friend we should go over to the Angel dugout and find out if these guys realized it was my birthday. I’m sure it would have made a difference. (I’m kidding, of course.) As it was, we enjoyed the wait. It was a beautiful day. The sun was warm. The fellowship was sweet. The seats were “to die for.” Only the score fell short. Way short.
That’s okay. I can wait.
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John Fischer is the Senior Writer for Purpose Driven Life Daily Devotionals. He resides in Southern California with his wife, Marti and son, Chandler. They also have two adult children, Christopher and Anne. John is a published author and popular speaker.
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