No sir, when I leave this game my participation will be seen has having been a deliberate, purposeful act, bringing to me the understanding of that purpose for which I lived.
That means me … I’m up at the plate, not on deck. But that’s not scary, it’s exhilarating. I am the one now that must prepare the way in which I go. Do I stand at the plate with the bat on my shoulder and wait for that third strike or do I get scared and start swinging wildly at every pitch that comes my way.
No sir, when I leave this game my participation will be seen has having been a deliberate, purposeful act, bringing to me the understanding of that purpose for which I lived. That purpose, alone, has the power to do what it will, but by counting on me to take the plate I’m allowed to be an important part of this game. You see, God loves me and He wants to see me make it home. He made the offer, it’s up to me to accept it.
So there I am at the plate watching the pitcher bent over in my direction staring down the strike zone with the ball in his hand behind him. We both know I’ll not be standing here much longer, I will be going. But, how I go, and where I go, that’s the challenge and that’s the excitement of making it this far and to be standing here now.
As I watch his wind-up I find myself thinking of something I once read, about all those people who have gone before me, “It’s like they blocked our view of the edge of the cliff and, now with them gone, it’s all too clear. ” I think of the richness my life has seen, and what it felt like, through the ups and definitely through all those downs. And, most of all, I’ll remember the love I received and so desperately wanted to share and sometimes I did; but, as for those times that I didn’t, I prayed for God to send His love to those I failed, with a note from me, “God loves you and so do I”
It’s time…
And so I watch that final pitch approach and I know exactly what to do. “I’m an old salt there, Sonny, I’ve been here too many times before” and now the ball seems to be moving in slow motion and getting slower the closer it gets to home plate and then it stops and hovers in one spot in front of me and I blast it one more time in my life and its still a deliberate, purposeful act.
And then, I round the bases and only then, do I go home.
