Myron and The Miracle Baseball Finale

  The night was spiraling fast by now, the kids were tired, Lauren was upset, it was not the way I had envisioned things.  We stayed until the end of the 6th inning, then left so we could get home and get in bed.  AT&T Park is built on what is known as Hawk Hill.  To get to the stadium you have to either walk up a bunch of steps, or take an escalator.  As we go out the front gate, a security guard is just in the process of changing the escalator from up to down, so we wait a few minutes so we don't have to walk down the steps.  This is the red covering on the top left of the picture.
     After we got to the street, we still had to walk the length of the stadium down the road to get to the parking area.  On the left of the picture, beside the road, there is a drop off to a hotel parking lot.  The grass you see between the stadium and the road is actually a huge, steep hill.  This is all very important.  By this time, my youngest daughter is beyond consoling.  She didn't get a hole in one, and she didn't get a foul ball.  She is not whining, just upset.  That's when IT happened.

X marks the spot

     I was in prayer as we walked down the street, praying that God would comfort my little girl. I was still feeling like even though we had done all of these things for the kids, I had let her down by dropping the ball.  I know that God's perfect will is greater than anything I can comprehend, but in the back of my mind I was wondering just why things had happened like they did.  We had gotten to about the point on the picture where the red X is when  something so unreal happened it still feels like a dream.
     Something inside of my told me to look up the hill at the stadium.  The lights on top of the stadium were bright, and an evening mist had settled in giving the stadium a dream like look.  Suddenly, to my disbelief, a baseball comes over the top of the stadium out of the mist.  I couldn't believe my eyes.  I know it was probably just my imagination, but it looked like the ball had been dropped out of the mist by some divine mysterious hand.  In that moment, time stood still.
    I watched as the ball started bouncing down the hill towards the road.  A million thoughts went through my head in that brief moment.  Would the ball keep bouncing and go into the parking lot, would this be the final disappointment for Lauren, my mind was in overdrive.  Suddenly a feeling of Divine peace came over me.  I watched as the ball bounced down the hill and hit the road, sure that the ball would hit the road and bounce into the parking lot below.  To my amazement, the ball did hit the road, but instead of bouncing it ROLLED!!!!  I am not a physics major, but that just does not happen.

The hill

 
     The ball came to a dead stop when it hit the curb, just a few steps from where we stood.  I took maybe two steps, reached down and picked up the ball, an authentic Southern League baseball.  I looked at my wife, and tears filled both of our eyes.  The kids couldn't speak, and my little girl had a look of indescribable joy on her face.  I walked over to her and handed her the baseball.  She looked at me, with tears in her eyes now, and said " thank you for the baseball Daddy."  I told her she shouldn't thank me, I didn't do it.

     The trip home was filled with joy, the kids marveling over the baseball, and Tina and I praising God for what we know was an answered prayer.  I know this was not a random occurrence, but something that was orchestrated by my Father above.  The baseball sits on a mantle in our home now, and every time I look at it I am reminded that God cares about every aspect of our lives.  I pick the ball up occasionally and am still filled with a feeling of love and peace that is beyond description.  We call it our Miracle Baseball.