THE HIGHWAY OF INTERCESSION

THE HIGHWAY OF INTERCESSION

During summer vacation, a group of kids, 10 or 12 of us would get together for a game of sandlot baseball at a local school. I was about 16 years old, only 5 feet tall, and not very strong. I was a very good fielder with a glove, but because of my size and underdeveloped body, I was not a good hitter with a bat. The baseball field we played at, faced a main road, and any ball hit from home plate to the lengthy distance over the road, was designated as a home run. I was one of the few, who never hit the ball hard enough, to make it across the road.

I speak to you about one particular game which I have never forgotten. It is my turn at bat, I step to the plate, and with a large swing, I miss the first pitch. The next pitch I hit slowly down the first base foul line. I gather in all my strength for the next pitch, and hit it, sailing it upward, reaching, cutting the air through the sky. A line drive to center field, up it went, soaring, higher and higher. I thought; this time it’s going, it’s going to go over the road. Nothing can stop it now, nothing! I dropped the bat and ran towards first base, watching as my dream unfolded, the ball climbing skyward, further and further. “Yes,” I yelled out. “Finally!” And then suddenly, without warning, it happened! The ball sailing upward hit a large telephone cable, and like a thief in the night, the ball dropped to the ground, like a falling apple. The thick telephone cable, strung horizontally between the poles, had captured my dream, cutting it off from it’s destination. A home run; that wasn’t. Who could have foreseen such a circumstance to end it’s flight? Two objects collide in fate, canceling a journey before its time.

A death of a home run, a baseball that died. Who could have imagined such a minute realm of chance had swallowed up a something that was, that wasn’t?

So too, it is with life’s journey. Like a thief in the night, our destination is cut short when unexpected circumstances collide and our spiritual mission is uncompleted. We should be prepared for the unexpected obstacles which await us on our journey. In an instant, a blink of an eye, our life could change, from happiness to sorrow, from prosperity to poverty, from health to infliction. One must be attuned to the inner sensitivity of heart, to seize precious moments, to reflect through faithful prayer and awareness, that fate surrounds all of us. It is the unexpected moment of fate that waits at our door, placing certain people, in certain places, at a precise moment for a specific reason. The intertwine of people’s lives are changeable at any moment, creating a path of opportunity to move people’s hearts, interceding on their behalf. It is the outpouring of compassion, which opens avenues of intercession. It is in the heart and soul which is molded in a trust, with an acceptance, that fate can be an intercession for a spiritual learning experience beneficial to our eternal life. It is the response of the inner soul, to help illuminate a person’s hopeless journey. Like the baseball hitting the telephone cable; the cable, was just there; an intercession, that for me, to hit a baseball, as hard as I could across a road for a meaningless home run, is not a feat, justified in my life. This incident has been a subtle intercession realized years later, that this type of self-accomplishment contains no purpose, no substance. It is of a greater meaning, through intercession of a single word, of love, or action, that can penetrate further, than any baseball, or self-accomplishment. There are many of those, stagnate in a living hell of abuse, brokenness, poverty, depression and hunger. A hunger for someone, anyone, to see into their desolation. It is in this same thought, that too many of us are unconcerned, dwelling in our playful games of deception, unaware of those, who call out for assistance. Of all the things that could be done to alleviate anguish, people just stand by as those around them, wilt away. Who is it that waits, for you, to recognize their suffering and hardship?

A few years ago, my wife and I were driving home from Virginia. We stopped at a rest area in Maryland. This little oasis was just off the highway. I went into the men’s rest room and noticed how neat and clean it was kept. There was an older man, a custodian, cleaning the area. When I was leaving, I reached from my wallet and took out some bills. I spoke to the man and remarked to him, how clean the rest room was, and what a good job he had done. I said, “I know you guys never get a tip, here’s a little something for you. Merry Christmas.” I handed him the money. He looked at me suspiciously, and then smiled. He took the money I gave him, thanking me as we shook hands. I moved away, and walked back to my car. Snow was starting to fall, it was bitter cold, but I was very warm inside, as I knew I had just melted a heart. Intercession, for a man, cast away in a little oasis, in an endless job of cleaning toilets. He will always remember when someone reached out and touched his heart, not with money, but with compassion.

When you melt away ice; there is water. When you melt away your outer self you will find your heart; when you melt a heart, there is enrichment, of encouragement, peacefulness, gentleness, kindness, and self-worth. When you reach out to a wilted heart of another, the seeds of intercession are planted and nourished with your presence. There is a rejuvenation of new hope and spirit, as the wounds of their inner self begin to heal. We are all continuously creating bridges to each other, highways for intercession. Our journey then becomes a bonding with those we meet, caring for people’s needs, enlightening their darkness, giving of ourselves to share in their endurance.

Let not a day or opportunity pass you by, before, the thief finds you. For like a thief in the night, our earthly life will end. No-one, is cheated from this enviable outcome. One easily forgets about their continuation of journey, from here, to there. Our souls move onward to a new dimension, it’s destination according to our earthy spiritual works. What is it, that you bring to the Lord? Games of self-accomplishment? Or is it intercession, the tears of the heart you carried, for the one, who could not cry?

Robert J. Varrick

rjvarrick@gmail.com