It can make or break you

Ever heard of Roy Riegels? He picked up a fumble during the 1929 Rose Bowl game and ran as fast as he could...toward the other team’s end zone. His mistake set up the winning touchdown for the opposition. A defining moment. Ralph Branca may not be a household name, but many will never forget the pitch he threw in the last game of the 1951 National League playoffs. Bobby Thompson eyed the pitch and pelted “the shot heard round the world,” a home run that won his team the pennant and probably the most famous homer in baseball history. Chris Webber’s defining moment came when the young basketball star called time-out during the 1993 NCAA finals, only to discover his team had no time-outs remaining.

What happened to Roy Riegels? I don’t know. Perhaps he forgot his blunder, or went on to use it somehow to his advantage. But Ralph Branca turned his defining moment into a turning point. Today he is a major force in an organization called BAT, dedicated to assisting old ballplayers “who have suffered tragedies more permanent than dealing the wrong pitch at the wrong moment.” Chris Webber established Time Out Inc., a non-profit agency to “help kids who need a time out to get going again.” Life is ripe with defining moments...moments that can make us or break us, depending on our perspective. For the Christian there is the assurance that God’s plans for us are good, regardless of the difficulty of our present circumstances.