In The Meantime
It's well-documented that 20 years ago when Yankees ownership asked then professional scout Dick Groch if he thought Derek Jeter would be going to Michigan after high school, he famously replied, "The only place this kid is going is Cooperstown." Few predictions have ever proved more true. We've merely had two decades to see what Derek Jeter would do in the meantime.
You know, blessed with having a master's degree in clinical exercise physiology, I can tell you why muscle reacts the way it does. After 8 books and nearly 2 decades of published articles, I can detail why our cells become oxygen-efficient through cardiorespiratory training. In my sleep, I can meticulously diagram the energy systems. I can discuss the finer points of the overload principle and how the body reacts to less, more or the same stimulus from one day to the next. The chemical reaction of fiber damage? Yes. Agility, flexibility, endurance, atrophy? Yep, those too. Like I said, I can explain a lot about this body, but my feeble self can't explain why God gives grace to the soul inside.
All I know is that if you were scouting me the day I accepted Jesus as my Savior, the only place you'd be certain I'd be destined for is Heaven. What I would do in the meantime - college, grad school, marriage, a publishing career, PrayFit.com, PrayFit.org, PrayFit Ministries and a lot of stumbles, strikeouts, falls and falters - surely wouldn't deserve it or prove it, but unlike Cooperstown, Heaven isn't dependent on votes.
Yeah guys, ever since I was a kid, I've always been passionate about things in my life. I'm all in. Sentimental. And my favorite athlete of all-time is taking his final bow as his number is retired. He just climbed out of the dugout one last time to wave to the crowd and to those of us watching at home. And I promise you that I was standing in the middle of my living room, holding my wife with one hand and tipping my cap to baseball's Captain with the other. It's not pretty in the house of PrayFit. After all, between the day of Mr. Groch's prediction of Jeter's destination to the moment of his ultimate induction into baseball's promised land, I watched what he did in the meantime.
Jimmy Peña
For Discussion: Guys, is anyone a thinker like me? Somebody please say 'yes.' Do you ever hold sand in your hand and think of Abraham and the stars and the length of eternity? Do you ever let neat things like baseball and legends and halls of fame remind you of Jesus and grace and love and faith? Because of the Cross of Calvary, we're assured Heaven.
Oh Lord, what would you have us do in the meantime?
