The Man Who Knew His Number Wasn't Enough

On September 30, 1972, Roberto Clemente lined a double off the wall at Three Rivers Stadium — his three-thousandth career hit. Only the eleventh man in baseball history to reach that milestone. The Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder had every reason to coast into retirement, to let the awards and accolades define his legacy.

Three months later, on New Year's Eve, a massive earthquake devastated Managua, Nicaragua. Clemente had learned that earlier relief shipments were being intercepted by corrupt officials and never reaching the suffering. So he did what no one expected a baseball legend to do — he personally boarded an overloaded cargo plane to ensure the supplies arrived.

The plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean shortly after takeoff. Roberto Clemente was thirty-eight years old.

He understood something that many of us spend a lifetime trying to grasp: our achievements are not our purpose. Three thousand hits made him a great ballplayer. Climbing onto that plane revealed why the Almighty had made him great in the first place.

The apostle Paul put it this way: "For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10). Your purpose is never just about what you accumulate — the titles, the milestones, the recognition. It is always about what you were willing to spend it all on.

What has God made you great at — and who is that greatness for?