{"id":5288,"date":"2021-03-29T20:51:53","date_gmt":"2021-03-30T03:51:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.themasonicjourney.com\/?p=5288"},"modified":"2021-03-29T20:51:53","modified_gmt":"2021-03-30T03:51:53","slug":"putting-life-in-perspective-the-story-of-shay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/putting-life-in-perspective-the-story-of-shay\/","title":{"rendered":"Putting Life In Perspective The Story of Shay."},"content":{"rendered":"

Author unknown but deeply appreciated<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

People always say how mean kids can be, never how nice they can be.<\/p>\n

This story will either make you cry, give you cold chills or just leave you to put life into perspective.<\/p>\n

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled children, the father of one of the school\u2019s students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all that attended. <\/span><\/p>\n

After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question, <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEverything God does is done with perfection.\u201d<\/b><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Yet, my son Shay cannot learn things as other children do. <\/span><\/p>\n

He cannot understand things as other children do.<\/span><\/p>\n

Where is God\u2019s plan reflected in my son?\u201d The audience was stilled by the query. The father continued. \u201cI believe,\u201d the father answered, <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cthat when God brings a child like Shay into the world, an opportunity to realize his Divine Plan presents itself and it comes in the way people treat that child.\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Then, he told the following story:<\/span><\/p>\n

Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, \u201c<\/span>Do you think they will let me play<\/b><\/i><\/span>?\u201d Shay\u2019s father knew that the boys would not want him on their team. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But the father understood that if his son were allowed to play it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shay\u2019s father approached one of the boys on the field and asked if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance from his teammates. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Getting none, he took matters into is own hands and said,<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are losing by six runs, and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we\u2019ll try to put him up to bat in the ninth inning.\u201d <\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay\u2019s team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. At the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the outfield. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Although no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay\u2019s team scored again. <\/span><\/p>\n

Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base. <\/span><\/p>\n

Shay was scheduled to be the next at-bat. <\/span><\/p>\n

Would the team actually let Shay bat at this juncture and give away their chance to win the game?????????<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn\u2019t even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least be able to make contact. <\/span><\/p>\n

The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. <\/span><\/p>\n

The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly toward Shay. <\/span><\/p>\n

As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball to the pitcher. <\/span><\/p>\n

The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could easily have thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have ended the game. <\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, the pitcher took the ball and threw it on a high arc to right field, far beyond reach of the first baseman. Everyone started yelling, \u201c<\/span>Shay, run to first, run to first.\u201d<\/b><\/span> Never in his life had Shay ever made it to first base. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled. <\/span><\/p>\n

Everyone yelled, <\/span>\u201crun to second, run to second!\u201d<\/b><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

By the time Shay was rounding first base, the right fielder had the ball. <\/span><\/p>\n

He could have thrown the ball to the second baseman for a tag. <\/span><\/p>\n

But the right fielder understood what the pitcher\u2019s intentions had been, so he threw the ball high and far over the third baseman\u2019s head. <\/span><\/p>\n

Shay ran towards second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously circled the bases towards home. <\/span><\/p>\n

As Shay reached second base, the opposing shortstop ran to him, turned him in the direction of third base, and shouted, <\/span>\u201crun to third!\u201d<\/b><\/span> As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams were screaming, \u201c<\/span>Shay! Run home!\u201d<\/b><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Shay ran home, stepped on home plate and was cheered as the hero for hitting a <\/span>\u201cgrand slam\u201d<\/b><\/span> and winning the game for his team.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat day,\u201d<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/u> said the father softly with tears now rolling down is face,<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cthe boys from both teams helped bring a piece of the Divine Plan into this world.\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/u><\/p>\n

Comment none needed<\/em> <\/b><\/p>\n

Have a wonderful Day & God Bless<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Norm<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Author unknown but deeply appreciated People always say how mean kids can be, never how nice they can be. This story will either make you cry, give you cold chills…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":5290,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-educator"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/baseball-shay.jpg",1920,844,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/baseball-shay.jpg",1920,844,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/baseball-shay.jpg",1920,844,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/baseball-shay-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/baseball-shay-300x132.jpg",300,132,true],"large":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/baseball-shay-1024x450.jpg",1024,450,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/baseball-shay-1536x675.jpg",1536,675,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/baseball-shay.jpg",1920,844,false],"penci-single-full":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/baseball-shay.jpg",1920,844,false],"penci-slider-full-thumb":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/baseball-shay-1920x800.jpg",1920,800,true],"penci-full-thumb":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/baseball-shay-1170x514.jpg",1170,514,true],"penci-slider-thumb":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/baseball-shay-1170x663.jpg",1170,663,true],"penci-magazine-slider":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/baseball-shay-780x516.jpg",780,516,true],"penci-thumb":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/baseball-shay-585x390.jpg",585,390,true],"penci-masonry-thumb":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/baseball-shay-585x257.jpg",585,257,true],"penci-thumb-square":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/baseball-shay-585x585.jpg",585,585,true],"penci-thumb-vertical":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/baseball-shay-480x650.jpg",480,650,true],"penci-thumb-small":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/baseball-shay-263x175.jpg",263,175,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"MasterMason","author_link":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/author\/mastermason\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"The Educator<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Author unknown but deeply appreciated People always say how mean kids can be, never how nice they can be. This story will either make you cry, give you cold chills…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}