"God Never Forgets to be Gracious!!"

Those who follow Baseball will always associate the name BILL BUCKNER with failure. Buckner, who died yesterday at the age of 69, was infamous for an error in the nationally televised 1986 World Series. This miscue led to the opposing team (the New York Mets) winning that year's Fall Classic, though they were one out away from losing everything. Some attributed Buckner's error to a "Curse" but all it was, in reality, was a flub that made his name BECOME a curse to many who will speak well of him now, only temporarily, because he just passed away, you see.

Despite the fact that Buckner had a GREAT career otherwise (2,700 hits), most news items about his death will always contain a prominent mention of his error somewhere near the beginning of his obituary. And when he's buried, that mention of his error won't be NEAR the beginning, it will BE the beginning of the synopsis of his life. Though I'm a YANKEES fan (and thus NOT a fan of the team Buckner played for in '86, the Red Sox), I say it's really kind of sad the way he's remembered.  It's truly unfair to remember someone's uncharacteristic LAPSE like that, but that's how this cold, cruel world often does things (unfortunately.)

Contrast this with how GOD remembers His children after they've departed!! For example, DAVID lived in Old Testament times and, at one point had a tremendous moral lapse....he committed adultery then had someone murdered to cover it up.  Yet, he truly repented before God after about a year, and, faithful to His own Word, God "remembered his sin no more." For in the NEW Testament. we find that God described David as "The man after his own heart, who will fulfill all of His will"....God looked at the PATTERN of David's godly life, not the aberration...He remembered the REPENTANCE and not the SIN. In His Grace, God didn't even MENTION David's sin as He recounted the tenor of his life, yet what Buckner did wasn't EVEN a sin and yet merciless man remembers it well. How very, very sad!!

They say Buckner had Dementia before he died...maybe HE was then able to forget that ground ball which went between his legs but thankfully GOD never forgets to be gracious and merciful to His own!! David was only ONE example of how God never forgets to be gracious to His children which was mentioned in the Bible. The number of those of us who will praise Him for His amazing grace in Heaven is beyond all human calculation!! WE forget HIM at times, but HE never forgets US and always sees His Work in us, because of Christ. Unlike human beings HE never forgets that we are human, and He never forgets to be gracious when looking over the totality of our lives as His children.