Daily Devotional #1,598

Baseball is the all American sport, but it just wasn’t my game. I found other sports that I liked and could do  well in…but baseball just wasn’t one of them. I tried playing one year on a minor league team in my  hometown. And I just didn’t do well…except for one day. On one day I was everyone’s hero and the team  applauded me! And it wasn’t even in a game!! We were warming up and I was playing second base when our  coach accidently hit a powerful line drive just about head high and I had my glove in the right place and it hit so  hard that when I caught it that everyone just stopped…including the coach. We actually stopped and several of  the guys came over and slapped me on the back with a “Way to go” encouragement. It felt great…but it wasn’t  what it looked like. Instead of the intrepid young second baseman reaching to his left to bring down the line  drive, I actually was trying to take my jacket off…and I got stuck. Yeah, my glove was stretched out as far as it  could go because the jacket was off my shoulders. And the line drive…it went straight into my glove and I was  as amazed as everyone else on the infield! I pulled my jacket back up over my shoulders, dug out the baseball  and threw it back to home plate…and never said a word about it. Have you ever felt that way? People have  thought something about you that was positive, something they admired…and you said to yourself “If they only  knew the truth about me.” We only know a bit about each other, and I hope that we will always give others the  benefit of the doubt. But God…well, he knows all about us. He knows our thoughts and motives as well as our  actions. He knew what really happened that day. And frankly, I’m glad he gave me that moment of positive  recognition…even though I didn’t deserve any of it. God knows the hidden things about us, things that we’d  rather no one ever knew about us. And knowing all of this…he loves you and me so very much! He has loved  us all and sent his son into the world so that we could have eternal live through him. And we didn’t love  God…he loved us. And that love is personal. He didn’t just love that mass of humanity out there…he loved  and loves you…and me. And he knows every single thing about us. Nothing is hidden from him. He loved us  before we showed up here on this planet and he loves you and me now. And he will love us through all eternity.  So remember that there is one being who knows the whole and unvarnished truth about you and me. And his  response is that of love that will never end. Here’s our Bible verse for today…  
1 John 4:9-10 NLT God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that  we might have eternal life through him. (10) This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and  sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
Remember I’m praying for you!  
With love, PJ