The future looked bleak, and Sutton felt terrible. Then, before a game, Dodgers manager Walter Alston tapped him on the shoulder. "I'd like to speak with you, Don," he said. Sutton prepared himself for the worst.
"Don," said Alston, "I know how the past couple of months have been for you. Everyone's wondering whether we can make it to the play-offs... You know there's a lot of pressure... I've had to make a decision." Sutton had visions of being taken off the mound. Then Alston continued. "If the Dodgers are going to win this year," he said, looking Sutton in the eye, "they're going to win with Don Sutton pitching. Come what may, you're staying in the starting job. That's all I wanted to say."
As we know Jesus is our perfect example. Perfect and true, pure in all His ways, there was non-else like Him. Since we know we were created in His image and likeness, we begin to understand that there is normality on one side of us, but there is a miracle on the other side. And we must let the normal die in order to take hold of the supernatural.
Sutton's losing streak lasted two more weeks, but because of his manager's encouragement he felt different about it. Something in him was turning around. He found himself pitching the best ball of his career. In the National League pennant drive, he won 13 games out of 14.
There are all kinds of theories about how to motivate people.
We can do it through guilt, through fear, through shame. But these were not Jesus' methods. Jesus motivated through positive messages of hope and encouragement. Jesus always looked for the good, and never focused on the bad: He saw us in the future and knew we looked much better than we do right now!
Don Sutton went on to set a record for team wins, be a MLB Hall of Famer, a Broadcast Journalist, and had his number retired by the Dodger; the highest form of honor a team can give a player. His coach, Alston, saw him in the future and knew he looked much better than he did at a particular moment in his life.
How do you see yourself and others? Do you look for the positive or the negative?
The Apostle Paul tells us in Philippians 4:8, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report: if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things."
It is time we came to our "Finally Moment" in life and begin to see others and ourselves in our current situation and in the future, with Christ. Forgive others for being human; there are much better things in store for them. Forgive yourself, for the same holds true for you too. Lets show the very Grace Jesus gave us back on Calvary: Finally!
