The Glove Transfer

On September 4, 1993, Jim Abbott stood on the mound at Yankee Stadium and did something only a handful of pitchers in baseball history have ever done — he threw a no-hitter. The left-hander shut down the Cleveland Indians across nine innings, 4-0, throwing 119 pitches without allowing a single hit. The 27,225 fans in attendance roared as shortstop Randy Velarde squeezed the final out.

What made the achievement extraordinary was not just its rarity, but its author. Abbott was born without a right hand. After every single pitch, he would cradle the glove against his right wrist, slip his left hand into it, and prepare to field. If a ball came back at him, he had to catch it, tuck the glove under his arm, grab the ball, and throw — all in one fluid motion he had practiced thousands of times since childhood. He never asked for a special rule. He never requested an accommodation. He simply refined what he had until it was enough.

Paul wrote from a Roman prison, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13). Notice that Paul did not say limitations disappear. He said strength arrives. Abbott still had one hand when the last out was recorded. Nothing about his body changed that September afternoon. But what he did with what he had been given was more than sufficient.

The same is true in the life of faith. God does not always remove the limitation. He fills what remains with a strength that is not our own.