Where is God's Perfection?

In Brooklyn, New York, "Crush" is a school that caters to learning disabled children. Some children remain in Crush for their entire school career, while others can be mainstreamed into conventional schools. At a Crush fund-raising dinner, the father of a Crush 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.. 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 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 Shay:

One afternoon Shay and his father walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked,"Do you think they will let me play?" Shay's father knew that his son was not at all athletic and that most boys would not want him on their team.

Shay's father understood that if his son were chosen to play it would give him a comfortable sense of belonging. Shay's father approached one of the boys in the field and asked if Shay 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." Shay's father was ecstatic as Shay smiled broadly. Shay was told to put on a glove and go out to play short center field. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again and now with two outs and the bases loaded with the potential winning run on base, Shay was scheduled to be up. Would the team actually let Shay bat at this juncture and give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat.

Everyone knew that it was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, let alone hit with it. However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay should at least be able to make contact. The first pitch came in and Shay swung clumsily and missed. One of Shay's teammates came up to Shay 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 Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay and his teammate swung at the ball 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. Shay 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," Shay run to first. Run to first." Never in his life had Shay 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 Shay, 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." Shay ran towards second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously circled the bases towards home. As Shay reached second base, the opposing shortstop ran to him, turned him in the direction of third base and shouted, "Run to third."

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams ran behind him screaming, "Shay run home." Shay 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."

Author Unknown

The Blessing of Helping Others..

Those boys as they helped little "Shay" fulfill his baseball dream were being perfect. In the New Testament when Paul talks about perfection.. he is really talking about maturity in Christ. As Paul says in Ephesians 4, we are to grow up in the faith and become like Jesus. We can't in this life attain "perfection" like Jesus but we can show forth His characteristics. We can Love like Him.. We can even act like Him.. And we are never more like Jesus than when we are helping others. What is amazing is that when we act like Jesus, when we love like Jesus, when we bless others like Jesus.. we are blessed, too.

It is amazing but when we do something good or nice.. how good we feel. That's not all.. we usually find that something good happens to us. Have you noticed that when we smile at people smile back at us.. When we are kind to people.. people return that kindness.. When we reach out to help others.. when we find ourselves hurting there is someone there to help us? somehow it comes back to us?

Why not find someone to bless.. someone to help.. give someone some encouragement.. tell someone how special they are.. give someone a pat on the back. Why not make it a habit to encourage someone every day. You will be surprised at how good that makes you feel and how those blessings come back to you. Hey, why not start Today!