Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
"One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand; one belonging to him and the other to the Lord. When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times of his life. This really bothered him and questioned the Lord about it. "Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, you'd walk with me all the way. However, I noticed that during the most troublesome times of my life there was only one set of footprints. I don't understand why when I needed you most you would leave me." The Lord replied, "my precious, precious child, I love you and I would never leave you during your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints it was then that I carried you."
Carolyn Joyce Carty
"God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Hebrews 13:5
Sometimes I take a break from my Old Testament writings when the Lord speaks to me on another subject that needs highlighted. Today is one of those days.
I don’t know if you heard about it this last week but last weekend something truly remarkable happened on a softball field in Washington state where two Division II schools, Central Washington and Western Oregon squared off in a doubleheader. Western Oregon had won the first game, 8-1, and there was no score in game two as Western Oregon came to bat in the second inning. They got a couple of runners on when a diminutive, part-time outfielder, senior Sara Tucholsky, came to bat and did the unexpected…she hit a home run. Excited and thrilled because she had never hit a home run before, she missed touching first base and as she turned to go back and touch it, she tore her ACL in her knee. She crumpled to the ground, unable to get up and run the bases.
The umpires said that it was against the rules for any of the Western Oregon coaches or trainers to help the injured player go around the bases. They could only put a player into the game in her place and the home run would get changed to a single. It appeared that Sara’s special moment was going to fade as quickly as it happened. But then the improbable happened.
Central Washington senior, third baseman and home run leader, Mallory Holtman, asked the umpires whether she could carry Sara around the bases so she could score and her first home run count. The umpire said there was nothing in the rules that would prevent it. So Mallory and the Western Washington shortstop, Liz Wallace, picked up Sara and carried her around the bases, pausing momentarily at each base to allow Sara to gingerly touch her foot to it. When they reached home plate, Sara’s teammates were waiting for her and took Sara from the Western Washington players. Sara might have hit the home run but the real scoring came in the way the Western Washington players displayed such incredible sportsmanship and humanity in helping someone in need. Western Washington would go on to lose the game 5-2 but they weren’t losers in anyone’s eyes this day.
(full article on this can be read at http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/columns/story?columnist=hays_graham&id=3372631)
I couldn’t help but think about the Lord when I heard of this story. For how many times do we fall down in the course of life, sometimes in the midst of what were good times and then in the blink of an eye, hardship or tragedy strikes. I have always loved the writing titled "Footprints in the Sand" penned by author Carolyn Joyce Carty because it reminds us that we truly do serve a Lord who never leaves us nor forsakes us. When we feel like we might be walking alone with only one set of footprints visible, we need to be reminded that the Lord is the Owner of those sincle set of footprints and is right there with us, carrying us through times of difficulty and helping us get to home plate…just as Mallory Holtman and Liz Wallace did for Sara Tucholsky.
My prayer is that we all can learn a lesson from the selfless, loving actions of these college girls and others. For in doing what they did, they truly reflected the Spirit of Jesus, a Spirit that has told us that when we do unto the least, it is as if we are doing it unto Him. (Matthew 25:40) Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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