A true story?? I Have no idea.  A great point, I'm pretty sure of it.


God's Perfection

In Brooklyn, New York, Chush is a school that caters to
learning-disabled kids, while others can be main-streamed 
into conventional 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 was 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 team-mates. 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 could 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 who 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 toward
second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously circled the 
bases towards home. The second baseman 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 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. 

"That day," said the father softly with tears now rolling down his
face, "those 18 boys reached their level of God's perfection."  


sent by
Phillip Bishop
University of Alabama