I ran across a story last week that stopped me in my tracks. It is really a parable for our day. The story is really the story about our time. It is about an aspiration for enough that could never be satisfied. While this story is wrenching and tragic and very arresting, it is repeated in similar form all the time. As the Bobsled coach said in Cool Runnings, "If you are not enough without it, you'll never be enough with it." Let me explain. And remember, it was Jesus Christ who came to satisfy our deepest longings and bring us to a contentment tied exclusively to relating to Him. "I have come that you might really live." John 10:10. Seeking first the kingdom of God and Jesus' righteousness has its own reward. All those other things are just "added unto us-es" (Matthew 6:33).

He was an ace lefty pitcher that was outstanding. He was a D-1 powerhouse's first recruit one year. And boy did he deliver. He brought it pitch after pitch into this storied program's record book. There was that college World Series championship as well. They whisked through the series on his arm. Wasn't that a "perfect game" from the mound at the series that helped bring home the championship? He was at the top of his game and the aspiration of his heart was the bigs.

He was tutored by the local hall of famer in the full stride of his own storied career. He mastered the famed franchise curve ball. It was off to the bigs after graduation. He had a good run in Triple-A ball for that first season. And as the Triple-A year ended, he got that September call up for a month of playing as the season came to an end in the big league. But his forays into the big league that first year were unsuccessful. It was his first year. But it was also a painful bellwether of what was to be a repeated habit for the next five.

This pattern became a routine. A solid season in Triple-A full of promise was followed by a tough September when brought up to the big leagues. No one had a clear sense of what this routine was doing inside of him. If you have all your aspirations in one basket and the basket springs a leak, your eggs can fall out. But nobody saw what was coming. After five years of this habit, the sixth broke out with the now familiar routine. It was off to Triple A after Spring training and then back to the big leagues for another September. But his hope for the bigs sprang eternal, or so it was thought. The sixth September was a repeat of the previous five. His whole life was wrapped up in this game. He had a lot invested. His life was coming apart. But apparently, that was conceded to few.

After that sixth September, he went back to a familiar place of great lore for him, the mound at his university where so many of those storied wins had been sculpted pitch after pitch. This was the defining moment for him. The pursuit he had bowed down to in life did not deliver on the promise. He broke himself in a pursuit that in the end broke him. Misplaced dreams will cut you in half. But he is certainly not the last involved in a pursuit which could never satisfy our longings. "Lay not up for yourselves treasure here on earth." Matthew 6:19.

He folded his pants that night and placed them next to the pitcher's mound. He put his jersey on top and then his hat and glove. And then took his life...at the pitcher's mound. The mound received the weight of his mortal remains.

So many people spend their lives chasing what they think will be most fulfilling only to find that the end of the rainbow is not the pot of gold that they pursued. En route, they are missing out on life's essentials: relationships, family, friends, love and belonging. All staples of the real good life. Jesus came to satisfy our deepest longings, forgive our sin and reconcile us to God. And there is no satisfaction like rightly relating to our Creator through his grace and forgiveness. There is no fulfillment in life like glorifying the very one who loved us and gave Himself for us. There is no enjoyment in life like learning to enjoy God in our relatedness to Him because of His grace.

Augustine said that man's heart was restless until it found rest in God. Noticed any restlessness lately? While not as pronounced as this pitcher, how many do you know who have been broken by scuttled dreams designed to validate the person's existence? Everybody seems to be trying to strain life out of everything other than the Life-giver Himself. "I have come that you might really live." O the joy of knowing Him!

One irony to the story is that it was told to me by his rival at a competing institution. He pitched across town. But God redirected His dreams toward investing in others. Since he left the diamond, he has spent his life telling other people the good news of great joy for all; yes, there is a Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord. He's told them in the states and told them abroad and spent the last good while next to others, helping them know how to tell the news with clarity and passion. We all make our decisions and then our decisions make us.

The story is told of David Livingston's body being brought back to the British Isles from Africa...minus his heart. His heart had been buried in Africa exploring and telling others of Jesus, a heart buried first, metaphorically in his service, then actually, postmortem. During the funeral procession the people lined the streets greeting the procession of his mortal remains. A vagrant appeared in the crowd mumbling and following the procession up one side of the street. At first no one noticed. Then, the phenomenon captured the attention of others in the crowd. Finally, curiosity drove one on looker to ask about what the scruffy looking guy was mumbling. "You were right Davey! You were right!" But that only baited the inquirer's curiosity all the more.

The man had grown up with Davey and gone to Bible lessons with him. One day in the distant past as they were boys, the teacher had pressed down upon them the claims of Jesus Christ. Davey had responded that day and made public his desire to serve this Jesus who had loved us and gave Himself for us. That was enough for Davey to give himself to Him. This man ridiculed Davey and went his own way in life rejecting those claims. Now forcibly the legacy of Davey's resolve was coming around that old broken man. Davey had finished his race. The man's former ridicule was now smashing his heart. Eternity will tell whether in death, Davey reached his old friend. And it will be telling for us as well.

All of us are dreamers. We all follow our aspirations. All along we were made to relate to our Creator and be deeply satisfied in all that this relationship brings to life. It is yet the wise man who builds his house on the rock. That promise makes our dream come true, that dream of a life with stable footing that is rewarding and brings satisfaction to our deepest longings.

It is how Jesus closed the Sermon on the Mount. "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who build his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell-and great was its fall." Matthew 7:24-27