Friday, July 16, 2010 Busch Stadium, St. Louis, MO
For family and friends it was a spectacular moment to watch John throw out the first pitch. For me, it was the overwhelming assurance of God to meet desires I would never dream possible.
Just a little over a year ago, John and I were waiting for x-rays for his up-coming, unexpected heart surgery. His head was hung low. A couple of days prior, he asked me if he was going to die. I was sure his thoughts had drifted back to that conversation. I asked him what he was thinking. "The Cardinals aren't going to take me now," he replied.
John pitches for his baseball team and is confident in the future, he will pitch for the Cardinals. On that day in the waiting room, his confidence faded. I told him that he would be stronger after this operation. He told me I didn't understand. He said, " I have had too many heart surgeries, they won't want me now."
So, July 16, 2010 a year after his heart surgery, complications and still wearing a metal bar in his chest for pectus repair, John stepped up on the mound at Busch Stadium. He shook off Cardinal's Pitcher Evan MacLane #62 once before throwing the ball over the plate.
Our crowd of family and friends went wild! John told me it was AWESOME to be up on the mound. I told him his pitch was AMAZING!!!
Sporting no hard feelings for being shook off, MacLane signed the ball for John and made a forever imprint on our hearts. Thank you God for giving John this wonderful opportunity.
