No Returns in Heaven

I’m not a believer in coincidences but I’m not one to point to random things as definite “signs.” But tonight is an exception to that rule. Instead of watching a very boring Olympic ceremony (sorry it was artsy, and frankly I didn’t care), I decided to rest after a long day and watch a movie on Netflix. The original plan was to watch Captain America, but Netflix doesn’t carry that, so I decided to watch a sports movie instead (any movie is better than the Sox). What I settled on is “A Mile in His Shoes,” a very low budget feel good movie. The basic plot is a minor league manager finds an amazing pitcher after his car breaks down. The team is really bad (almost Red Sox bad) so he signs the kid. The thing is that the kid has Aspergers (a mild form of autism) and has never really been outside his home. After a few bumps in the road the kid becomes a big star and ends up throwing a complete game to lead the team to the playoffs. I’m not a big fan of feel-good movies, but this was different. I thought that the movie would highlight how the team was so good for the pitcher, but it was the opposite. Instead the movie was about how much of a blessing this kid was to everyone around Him. I always knew God was perfect, but I had a thought in the back of my mind that His creations contained imperfections. I never really looked around at how all our differences (which can be a real pain to us) are blessings to those in our community. Maybe there is something in your life, or something about you that you just can’t shake. And often times it is not fair, you didn’t sign up for this. But God gave it to you and me, and it is up to us to take it and turn it around to bless those around us. This is a hard message to write because there are many quirks about myself that I don’t like at all, but if all I focus on is how they make my life difficult then I miss how they can provide a light in the darkness for everyone around me.