God's Perfection
Posted by: root <root@...>
children. Some children remain in Chush for their entire school career,
while others can be main-streamed into conventional Jewish schools. At a
Chush fund-raising 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 were 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?
Surprisingly, 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 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 that 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 shortstop 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! 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."
--
Associate.com - THE Place to Associate! http://www.welovegod.org
Over 100 Inspirational/Technical E-mail Lists welovegod.org/lists.html