This story was made back in 2007 when I was 14 years old when my best friend passed from lung cancer. It really resonates these past 24 hours or so because I feel like a lot of it related to Sam Foltz. I feel for the players because I have felt the impact of losing a teammate. To this day, this was one of the hardest things that I went through, but yesterday just brought back so many vivid memories.
The Call to the Bigs…
Sometimes in the world we live in it’s hard to make sense out of things. We read every day about young men and women being killed in Iraq. We read about suicide bombers blowing up innocent people. We read about a meth epidemic that is raging out of control. We read about people who can’t seem to decide if we should build walls to keep people out or tear walls down to let people in. We even read about the total disarray of Husker Nation….We read and we read trying to make sense out of things in this world.
Recently a group of young boys were playing a simple game of baseball. Three strikes and you’re still out. Four balls is still a walk. You still hit it on a rope. You still have your can of corn. You still rally on two and it still isn’t over until it’s over. In a world gone mad, this till makes sense. That’s the great thing about baseball, it just makes sense.
Jake, at fourteen years young, passes away from cancer. We probably have asked ourselves, “how does this makes sense?” Fourteen years young, the age when he should have been playing ball, swimming, playing video games, hanging out with friends, and wondering about girls. Fourteen years young, the age when all the important questions in life are asked like “what’s my batting average, how many games behind are the Yankees or Cardinals, or what is the weight of the new bat you’re swinging?” Not, what is chemo, why is this happening or even why me?” Fourteen years young…
It would certainly be easy to ask all the tough questions, “How does this make sense, or Why would God let something like this happen?” It may even make some of us look at and question our own faith. There seems to be no simple answer, no rhyme or reason to it, just the cold hard reality of the world that we live in…sense? What sense?
Then I thought about the boys playing baseball, either it’s a ball or a strike, either it’s fair or it’s foul, either you’re safe or you’re out, either you win or you lose. It just makes sense. That’s when it occurred to me that I was looking at the small picture. I was trying to make sense out of things that don’t make sense. We live in a world filled with senseless wars. We live in a world filled with senseless crime. We live in a world filled with senseless drugs, and yes, unfortunately we live in a world with senseless diseases.
Now close your eyes and picture this. Picture a place where the grass is always green. Picture a place where the skies are always blue. Picture a place where the weather is always perfect. Picture a place where the ball games never end. There is such a place, a much, much better place.
This young man got his call to this place. Jake got his call to the bigs, perhaps he got the call a little sooner than many of us would have liked, but Jake got the call to this place that we all should dream of and aspire too! Jacob got the call to this place with no senseless wars, no senseless crime, and no senseless, nasty diseases…just green grass, blue skies and ball games that never end.
Today God got a good one….God got a very good one…
Play ball Jake…Just play ball
With God it just makes sense…
The Call to the Bigs…
Sometimes in the world we live in it’s hard to make sense out of things. We read every day about young men and women being killed in Iraq. We read about suicide bombers blowing up innocent people. We read about a meth epidemic that is raging out of control. We read about people who can’t seem to decide if we should build walls to keep people out or tear walls down to let people in. We even read about the total disarray of Husker Nation….We read and we read trying to make sense out of things in this world.
Recently a group of young boys were playing a simple game of baseball. Three strikes and you’re still out. Four balls is still a walk. You still hit it on a rope. You still have your can of corn. You still rally on two and it still isn’t over until it’s over. In a world gone mad, this till makes sense. That’s the great thing about baseball, it just makes sense.
Jake, at fourteen years young, passes away from cancer. We probably have asked ourselves, “how does this makes sense?” Fourteen years young, the age when he should have been playing ball, swimming, playing video games, hanging out with friends, and wondering about girls. Fourteen years young, the age when all the important questions in life are asked like “what’s my batting average, how many games behind are the Yankees or Cardinals, or what is the weight of the new bat you’re swinging?” Not, what is chemo, why is this happening or even why me?” Fourteen years young…
It would certainly be easy to ask all the tough questions, “How does this make sense, or Why would God let something like this happen?” It may even make some of us look at and question our own faith. There seems to be no simple answer, no rhyme or reason to it, just the cold hard reality of the world that we live in…sense? What sense?
Then I thought about the boys playing baseball, either it’s a ball or a strike, either it’s fair or it’s foul, either you’re safe or you’re out, either you win or you lose. It just makes sense. That’s when it occurred to me that I was looking at the small picture. I was trying to make sense out of things that don’t make sense. We live in a world filled with senseless wars. We live in a world filled with senseless crime. We live in a world filled with senseless drugs, and yes, unfortunately we live in a world with senseless diseases.
Now close your eyes and picture this. Picture a place where the grass is always green. Picture a place where the skies are always blue. Picture a place where the weather is always perfect. Picture a place where the ball games never end. There is such a place, a much, much better place.
This young man got his call to this place. Jake got his call to the bigs, perhaps he got the call a little sooner than many of us would have liked, but Jake got the call to this place that we all should dream of and aspire too! Jacob got the call to this place with no senseless wars, no senseless crime, and no senseless, nasty diseases…just green grass, blue skies and ball games that never end.
Today God got a good one….God got a very good one…
Play ball Jake…Just play ball
With God it just makes sense…
