¶ Welcome to Starting Right
Good morning and welcome to Starting Right with Danny Mac . I'm going to be here every Monday to Friday to help you get a great five-minute start to your day . So grab your cup of coffee , sit back , relax and let me help you start your day right . There is a Hebrew school in Brooklyn , new York , that caters to children with learning disabilities .
Several years ago , at one of their fundraisers , a father was asked to give the speech . He stood up and told of the wonderful things the school had done for his son , shea , and how great the teachers were and how wonderful all of the staff and the curriculum was . But then he stopped for a moment and he said this when is the perfection in my son Shay ?
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 understandably shocked by the question .
There was silence for a moment and the father said I believe 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 . And then the father told this story about his son Shea . One afternoon , shea and his father walked past a park where some boys Shea knew were playing baseball .
Shea asked do you think they will let me play ? Shea's father knew that his son was not at all athletic and that most boys would not want him on their team . But Shea's father understood that if his son was chosen to play , it would give him a wonderful and much-needed sense of belonging .
Shea's dad approached one of the boys in the field and asked if Shea could play . The boy looked around for some insight and guidance from his teammates , but he didn't get any . So he took Madison to his own hands and said well , 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 . Shea's father was ecstatic as Shea smiled broadly . Shea was told to put on a glove and go out and play in center field . In the bottom of the eighth inning , shea's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three .
In the bottom of the ninth inning Shea's team scored again , and now with two outs and the bases loaded with potentially the winning run on base , shea was scheduled to be up next . Shea's father wondered if they would actually let Shea have a bat and give away their chance to win the game . Surprisingly , and without hesitation , shea was given the bat .
Everyone knew that winning was now all but impossible because Shea didn't even Shea was given the bat . Everyone knew that winning was now all but impossible because Shea didn't even know how to hold the bat properly , let alone hit with it .
However , as Shea stepped up to the plate , the pitcher moved a few steps forward to lob the ball in softly so Shea should at least be able to make contact . The first pitch came in and Shea swung clumsily and missed . One of Shea's teammates came up behind him 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 towards Shea . As the pitch came in , shea and his teammates swung at the ball together and they hit a slow ground ball to the pitcher . The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could easily have thrown the ball to first base .
Shea would have been out and that would have been the end of the game . Instead , the pitcher took the ball and threw it in a high arc to right field , far beyond the reach of the first baseman , everybody started yelling Shea run to first , run to first . Never in his life had Shea 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 have tagged out Shea , 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 . Shea ran towards second base as the runners ahead of him circled the bases towards home . As Shea reached second base , the opposing shortstop ran to him , turned him in the direction of third base and shouted run to third . As Shea rounded third , the boys from both teams ran behind him , screaming Shea , run home .
Shea 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 . The father , with tears now rolling down his face , said that day those 18 boys reached their level of God's perfection .
Romans , chapter 12 and verse 10 in the English Standard Version says this Love is not just a feeling , it's an action . It means putting others' needs before your own and serving others selflessly . It means being generous with our time , our resources , our talents and using them to bless others , just like those boys did on that baseball field that day .
I hope you have a great day , my friends . We'll talk again tomorrow . Thank you for listening today , and I invite you to join me Monday to Friday , right here on Starting Right with Danny Mac .