And the Winning Number is….
Eight (8) – He played shortstop and third base for the Baltimore Orioles. He was a fan favorite and even people who rooted for the opposing team liked him. He kept going and going and going. He would play in 2,632 consecutive baseball games. He wore number eight (8) and his name was Cal Ripken, Junior.
Twenty-seven (27) – Most will probably remember him for the blue deuce (number 2) that he drove for Penske Racing until he retired in 2005. He had a total of fifty-five victories. He was NASCAR’s 1984 Winston Car Series Rookie of the Year and in 2013 he was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. But it was on April 6, 1986 at the Valleydale 500 at the Bristol Motor Speedway, in his number 27, Raymond Beadle’s Blue Max Racing’s Pontiac, that he received his first victory. This driver’s name is Rusty Wallace.
Thirty-four (34) – His nickname was “Sweetness” and boy could this running back run. He played his entire thirteen year football career for the Chicago Bears and he only missed one game. He was a nine time Pro Bowl selection and he was inducted in the NFL Hall of Fame in 1993. Even though he was a running back, he threw eight (8) touchdown passes in his pro football career. He rushed for 16,726 yards and had 110 touchdowns. His off the field efforts were as inspiring as his efforts on the field. Just before his death, at the age of 46 years old, of Cholangiocarcinoma, he became a huge advocate for organ donations and he really pushed that cause. The NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year is named in his honor. That award honors a NFL player for their volunteer and charity work. Walton Payton wore the number thirty-four (34) when he played for the Chicago Bears.
Four (4) – He pretty much invented the concept of the clean-up hitter in baseball. That is the position of fourth in the batting lineup. Usually it is reserved for the best hitter on a team. He played for the New York Yankees. You would think if you had Babe Ruth on your team, that the Babe would be batting clean-up, but the Babe batted third and he batted fourth. He held the consecutive game streak, at 2,130 games, before Cal Ripken, Jr. (see above) broke it 56 years later. He also hit twenty-three (23) grand slam home runs. His life’s story is told in the movie “The Pride of the Yankees.” It was also in his death that his strength really inspired us. He knew he was dying and the Yankees wanted to honor him before his passing. He would stand in front of the Yankee crowd and claim that he felt like “the luckiest man on the face of the earth.” He would have amyotrophic lateral sclerosis which would later go by the name, his name, Lou Gehrig’s disease. Lou Gehrig would wear the number four (4) for the New York Yankees.
Nineteen (19) – He is a three time inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He was inducted as a player, a coach, and as an assistant coach of the 1992 United States Olympic “Dream Team” basketball team. He was a nine time NBA all-star and won 1,332 games as a NBA coach. He once said, “I learned my basketball on the playgrounds of Brooklyn. Today, being a playground player is an insult. It means all you want to do is go one-on-one, it means your fundamentals stink and you don’t understand the game. But the playgrounds I knew were tremendous training grounds.” Lenny Wilken’s number nineteen (19) was retired by the NBA’s Seattle Super Sonics (who became the Oklahoma City Thunder).
Ten (10) – He was perhaps the greatest soccer player to ever play the game. In 1999, he was voted the World Player of the Century by the International Federation of Football (soccer) History and Statistics. It is said that he has had 1281 goals in 1363 games. He started his soccer career at the age of sixteen for the Brazil National Football Team. In 1958, he was the youngest player to play (at that time) in a World Cup game. America fell in love with him when he joined the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League in 1975. That league played games between 1968 and 1984. He simply went by one name and that name was Pele. Pele wore the number ten (10) for the New York Cosmos and many young American fans became excited about soccer because of him.
His grandfather, Sam, was so proud of his new grandson. He would brag, “One day my little grandson is going to be a US Senator. Yes, just you wait and see.” I’m sure all the neighbors listened to the wild old man’s tales, but few probably took them very seriously. After all, they were aware that poor farmers rarely make political heroes. Their house lacked electricity, an indoor bathroom, or even running water, unlike those city houses that were now being built and he expected such great things to happen to his grandson. It didn’t seem likely.
When he was younger his parents really believed in education. They even moved into a different town because they thought all their children could receive a better education there. As a child he would work on nearby farms. He would also shine shoes in the barber shop, be a newspaper typesetter, and even trap animals for their skins. His mom wanted him to become a teacher. He and his friends had better ideas. They headed out to the riches of California. The California life wasn’t exactly the way they dreamed it would be. He would take jobs as a fruit picker, a dishwasher and even an elevator operator. Finally, facing his disappointment and feeling a hunger in his belly, because these were all low paying jobs, he would return home and take his Mother’s advice and go to teaching school and become a teacher.
When he was at college he would work jobs as a janitor and a trash collector until he was offered the job of assistant secretary to the college president. When he finished college he would teach public speaking and debating at a Houston high school. It was here, to his surprise, that newly elected House of Representative member Richard Kleberg asked him to come to Washington DC with him to be his secretary. Politics was always his dream. He even dreamed of one day becoming President of the United States.
It was in this job as secretary that he would be introduced to Claudia Taylor, the daughter of a wealthy Texas rancher. He would propose to her after their first date. She would turn him down, but they would be married within a year. For the first time in his life he knew what it was like to have money.
This young lad lived in Bible times. All his life he knew nothing but being a slave. Sometimes when his family sat around the dinner table, his grandfather would tell stories of better days. God guided his people to Egypt, where they now resided. One of their own, named Joseph, had caught the Pharaoh’s attention. The Pharaoh made Joseph, one of their own Israelites, the overseer of the food distribution during a seven year period of famine and drought. Because Joseph had seven years to prepare, the Egyptians had so much food they could sell it to other lands. Joseph became a national hero and the Pharaoh gave the Israelites some of the best lands as a reward.
But those stories of his grandfather were of long ago. The Egyptians had long since forgotten the appreciation they once had for Joseph and the Israelites. In fact, the Egyptians had even taken the Israelites into slavery. The young lad saw his future as hopeless. “Once a slave, always a slave,” is what he thought.
A hero, named Moses, stood up to the Pharaoh and demanded that the Israelites should be set free. After many plagues, the Pharaoh finally relented to Moses’ demands. It was a proud day for the young lad. In the middle of his people, he proudly walked out of the Egypt having his greatest dream finally realized.
8–27–34–4–19–10. We know the stories behind the greatness of each of these numbers. But there I stood looking at the small piece of paper in my hands. Not one of those magical numbers matched any of the numbers on the slip of paper I was holding. If I had picked those magical numbers it would be a combination that would have guaranteed me a life of leisure. They were the Powerball numbers and the prize was close to 1.6 billion dollars. It’s amazing how 6 little numbers can change your whole attitude.
When lotteries have real high jackpots you probably hear many conversations on how different someone’s life will be if they win that prize. They will pay off this or that. They will donate to all sorts of charities. Some of the crazy ones even say they will continue staying with their current employer. Yes, the world is going to be a much better place once they win that prize.
Our politician wannabe eventually would win election to the House of Representatives. He would be elected for a total of five terms. During one of those terms he lost a very close election to the US Senate. Shortly after that election, Japan would bomb Pearl Harbor. He was the first member of Congress to enter active duty during World War II. Other members would eventually follow his lead. FDR would need those members of Congress back in Washington to conduct government business and he would have to call them to come back. Our young fellow would eventually get elected to the US Senate, fulfilling the dream of his grandfather. He would eventually become the youngest person elected as Majority Leader of the Senate.
Our Biblical lad saw the Egyptians changing their minds and they started coming after them with full force. His people were backed up to the Red Sea with no place to go. “Their dreams just weren’t worth it,” was his thought. But God divided the sea and allowed his people to travel through on dry land. Once they reached the other side the sea swallowed up all the Egyptians who were chasing them.
Time and again, the young lad would witness his people come under trials and wanting to give up on their dreams. Each time his people wanted to return to Egypt or get rid of their deliverer, Moses. God was gracious and each time He would come to their rescue and He would forgive them. “Boy, dreams are tough,” the young lad thought.
Lyndon Johnson would leave the Senate to become John F. Kennedy’s Vice President. When Kennedy would die by an assassin’s bullet, Johnson would have his dream fulfilled and he would become President of the United States. In the 1964 election, Johnson would win his own term as President. But sometimes getting what you ask for doesn’t turn out so well.
The Vietnam War wasn’t going so well and everyone was blaming him. President Johnson’s popularity would drop to a 36% approval rating. When he ran for reelection in 1968 things started turning against him. After performing poorly in a few early primaries he would drop out and state, “I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President.” He would claim that he was worried about his health. Whatever the reason, the great dream he once claimed had become a nightmare.
Sometimes we believe true happiness can only be achieved with the fulfillment of a dream. We believe that task would be so much easier if we were to win the lottery, receive our freedom from our struggles, or even become President. In reality, there is no substitution for hard work and using each day God has given us with a positive attitude and a content heart. Maybe we should use the talents and attitudes we are given today, like Cal Ripken, Jr., Rusty Wallace, Walter Payton, Lou Gehrig, Lenny Wilkens, and Pele, to make this world a better place. Then, who knows, what our lives and happiness will really be like.
Prayer: Dear Mighty Father, Thank You for examples, that cross my path, that show me that sometimes it’s not about magically getting what I dream about. It is more about using and being content with what I have. Amen.
