The Standing Ovation Bill Buckner Never Expected

On October 25, 1986, Boston Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner watched a slow ground ball from Mookie Wilson roll between his legs in Game 6 of the World Series. The Mets scored the winning run. Boston lost the series. And Buckner became the most blamed man in baseball.

For nearly two decades, he carried it. Death threats. Public ridicule. He eventually moved his family to Idaho just to escape the scorn. An entire city had reduced a man with 2,715 career hits to one error in one inning on one October night.

Then came 2008. The Red Sox, having finally won the World Series in 2004, invited Buckner back to Fenway Park to throw the ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day. When he walked onto that field, something remarkable happened. Thirty-six thousand fans rose to their feet. The ovation lasted nearly a full minute. Buckner, the man who had been running from Boston for twenty years, stood on the mound and wept.

Forgiveness does that. It finds you in your exile and calls you home.

The Apostle Paul wrote, "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." The God we serve does not reduce us to our worst moment. The Almighty does not replay our errors on an endless loop. He throws open the gates and gives us a standing ovation — not because we earned it, but because that is simply who He is.

Your worst inning is not your whole story.