WITNESS
8-9-13
THE PERFECT GAME---THE PERFECT
LIFE
On a rainy---muggy night in
In late May of 1959
A 33-year-old left-handed journeyman---pitching for the
Pittsburgh Pirates
Threw what many consider to be
The greatest game ever pitched
2000 years ago
A man lived
What many consider to be
The greatest life ever lived
A life of kindness
A life of compassion
A life of forgiveness
And a life of love---FOR ALL
The first man---Harvey
Haddix---from---
Threw a perfectly pitched game of baseball
For 12 innings
Not just for nine innings---but
for twelve innings
27
batters up---27 batters down
30
batters up---30 batters down
……..well you get the idea
Then in the bottom of the 13th
inning
A usually sure-handed third baseman
By the name of Don Hoak makes an error
And the Pirates lose
Yet in my mind---STILL
The greatest game ever pitched
2000 years ago
A man in my mind
Lived the greatest life ever lived
A live full of compassion and
kindness
Compassion means
To have pity for
And to show kindness to another
“Let us not become weary
In doing good
For at the proper time
We will reap a harvest
If we do not give up
Therefore
As we have opportunity
Let us do good to all people
Especially to those
Who belong to the family of believers” Galatians
6:9-10
And HOW did Christ live his
life?
“Jesus went through
All the towns and villages
Preaching the good news of the kingdom
And healing every disease and sickness
When he saw the crowd
He had compassion on them
Because they were harassed and helpless
Like sheep without a shepherd”
Matthew 9:35-36
And what about forgiveness?
In his dying breath, Jesus said,
“Father, forgive them
For they do not know
What they are doing”
Luke 23:34
An innocent man---freely and
innocently
Giving up his life for all
“My command is this
Love each other
As I have loved you
Greater love has no one
Than to lay down his life
For his friends
Today you are my friends
If you do what I command”
John 15:13&14
In 1994 Harvey Haddix died
With his game
Not even being recorded as a perfect game
Due to changes in baseball rules in 1991
Yet in my mind
STILL---the greatest game ever pitched
Jesus Christ died
Some 2000 years ago
Yet---in my mind
STILL---the greatest life ever lived
AND MY LORD---MY SAVIOR---AND MY GOD
In a world that has gone mad
With materialism
With sexual lust
And with “scientific miracles”
I feel that like
The world is trying to REMOVE
HIS name from the record books
“TODAY I CALL YOU FRIEND”
Robert P. Wallman
2-7-12
Ps WITNESS 8-9-13 and 5-30-2023
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