A story has circulated the internet for some time of a man addressing a school fundraiser where his special needs son is a student.  The story goes that Shay and his father were walking past a park where some boys are playing baseball.  The father approaches on of the boys and asks if his son could join the game.  The boy said that they were loosing miserable so he guesses he could be on their team.  Shay takes his place on the bench wearing a team shirt.  It comes down to the ninth inning and the loosing team is now within one point of their rivals and it is Shay’s turn to bat, if they let him.  They do.  The pitcher on the opposing team sees that Shay cannot hold the bat correctly and he discerns the boy’s special needs.  He moves in a little and makes his first pitch.  Shay misses.  The pitcher moves up more.  Somehow Shay makes contact with the ball and dribbles it right back to the pitcher.  He throws it over the first baseman’s head.  He in turn throws it past the second baseman and then the ball is thrown again out of the reach of the last player.  Shay makes the winning hit and brings in himself and two other runners already on base.  He is an instant hero.

I know that this is a long story and may not really be true; but, the moral of the story is loud and clear.  If you were “Shay”, how would you want to be treated?  We all deserve to be treated with dignity and respect no matter if you have a disability or not.  Some people forfeit these things; but, people still deserve it.

How do you treat people that are different than you?  I see people all the time move away from people in wheelchairs or who appear to be “different” and to be honest it angers me.  They are human beings who communicate differently, look differently, act differently and even sound differently; but they are still God’s creations and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.

I think Jesus in a parable gave a good example of one man ignoring the difference of someone else in deep need.  Look at Luke 10:33, “But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,”  Will you demonstrate the compassion of Christ to others no matter their disability?  I hope you will.

So, how are you doing?