REFLECTIONS

Bad Breaks

News hit the streets, stunning news. People grieved over it, that is if they could bring themselves to believe the news at all. They wanted to do something for their hero. They chose a baseball game scheduled on the occasion of our nations birth. But this day in 1939 was more than a ball game on a holiday decorated with red, white, and blue. They selected that day to honor a hero, loved not just by Yankee fans and those teammates who played alongside him, but by those who played against him too.

To the sound of warm applause, Lou Gehrig took his place at a podium set near the pitcher’s mound. He looked up into the crowd hushed by their respect for him. He began, “Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”

From there, a humble and grateful man focused that large attentive audience not on his bad break defined by a debilitating disease that erodes the body’s nervous system until life is slowly suffocated. Nor did he recount his many achievements in his illustrious career—his consecutive game streak of 2,130 games, his four home runs in one game, his two most valuable player awards, or his 99.1% career fielding average. Instead he recalled his blessings.

He remembered the extraordinary individuals he played for and the outstanding teams and opposing players he played against. He talked of the lifetime of support from his parents, and the loving courage of his wife. And he expressed appreciation for the fans and all those workers in the stands and behind the scenes who took the time to express their appreciation to him. Then with his future dim, he closed, “I may have got a bad break. But I have a lot to live for.”

Bad breaks strike us all; some worse or more frequent than others. Jesus warned us, “In this world you will have trouble.” The story of Joseph told of a bad break when his jealous brothers sold him into slavery. But he would later figure out it was God’s way to position him in Egypt so he could care for Joseph’s family when hard times would fall on them. And not only did Joseph take care of his family, but Joseph’s story, in all its sub-parts, has served to teach and inspire God’s message of hope over thousands of years. God works bad breaks for good.

Bad breaks mean that our plans won’t work out as hoped. But just as God told the Israelites in exile, I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeramiah 29:11)

Through God’s love, we came into the world. We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared for us in advance to do. Which tells us…

Bad breaks or not, God gives us a lot to live for.

You are the light of the world,

Richard +

www.reflectingthesavior.org.

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