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The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
Psalm 34:18-19
Reflect
I’ve been a fan of the Philadelphia Phillies for as long as I can remember. My family lived in the suburbs of Philly for just a couple of years, but I discovered baseball in those two years and have loved the Phillies ever since. That’s generally pretty futile because the Phillies don’t often contend for championships, but they’re my team, so I root every year, win or lose.
Every so often the Phils make us believe for a while, as they did in 1993. The Phillies won their division and slipped past the Atlanta Braves for the National League championship. We had every reason to believe they could beat Toronto in the World Series. But then came Joe Carter.
The Blue Jays had done well against the Phillies’ pitching and led the Series three games to two. But in game six, the Phillies were just a few outs from evening things and taking the Series to game seven. Philadelphia put the the game in the hands of its best reliever, Mitch Williams. Williams had 43 saves in the regular season but had been more than shaky in the Series. He recorded only one out and put two men on base and now faced Carter. With the season on the line, Williams threw a pitch right over the middle of the plate — and Carter blasted it into the left field stands for the winning home run.
Like so many other Phillies fans, my heart sank that day. The memory of that home run is burned into my memory, and what makes it worse is that Carter’s home run is regarded as one of the best moments in World Series history — so it’s played repeatedly at this time every year. But as much as the memory is painful, it’s faded with time. That moment was heartbreaking in 1993. Today, it’s just a frustrating reminder of one bad day.
There are moments in our lives that seem to break our hearts. Maybe baseball is a small thing, at least for a fan, but the Lord can heal any hurt, regardless of what it is that makes us sad or even heartbroken. There’s no way our hearts can resist his love and healing when we place our full trust in Him.
Reflection copyright © 2021 Doug DeBolt.
