Thursday; January 9

          If you were a baseball fan in the latter part of the 20th Century you knew Pete Rose.  (Now, whether you liked Pete Rose was a whole different story!)  Pete Rose played the game well and played it as hard as anyone of his day.  Now, those of us who watched “Charlie Hustle” play recall him for what he did on the field, but many others remember him for something else – being permanently banned from baseball because he bet on games.  Through the years there has been a lot of discussion as to whether the lifetime ban was warranted, but Pete may have been as much of a victim of circumstances as he was of his own actions.  You see, Rose was banned by Major League Baseball Commissioner Bart Giamatti on August 24, 1989; however, Giamatti died on September 1, 1989.  While it is merely my personal opinion, I believed Giamatti’s untimely death sealed Rose’s fate.  Had the Commissioner lived, they might have come to an agreement to reinstate Rose, but his legacy was sealed by the sudden unexpected death of the man who disciplined him.
          The reason I bring this up is not to debate Pete Rose’s place in professional baseball, but to remind us of the brevity of life.  We cannot depend on “tomorrow” to give us a chance to make peace or make amends in life.  The New Testament reminds us, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.’ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” (James 4:13-14).  Is there something we need to address?  The only certainty we have is today, so we had better get our accounts settled now!
          Think About It!

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