Monday Ministerial Musings
By Rev. Mark William Ennis
2022 Blog #37
September 19, 2022
An Undeserved Gift at Citi Field
I drove over the George Washington bridge and made my standard snarky remarks about “being in New York City.” I am a Jersey snob after all and spend as little time in New York City as I can. This trip was different, however. I was looking forward to the trip for, although in New York, Citi Field is still a great place to be.
I parked in the VIP section of the lot and walked toward the entrance for “special guests.” After passing through security we were directed toward the “Clover Lounge.” It was there that I began to realize just what a wonderful gift I had been the recipient of. There was an abundance of free food that would rival the food of a wedding reception buffet.
For almost an hour we feasted on beef, shrimp, salad, rice chicken kabobs and that doesn’t include the hotdogs, pretzels, and four different desserts. I lost count of the number of cannoli’s that I ate. I felt more than full when I ate, but not before I brought a few sodas and bags of potato chips with me to our seats.
The seats for the game were the best I had ever sat in. We were on the third base side, four rows from the field. I was fifteen feet from the Pittsburgh ball boy and ten feet away from the field camera and photography booth. The game was even better as Taijuan Walker pitched well enough to win the games as the Mets beat the Pirates.
Did I deserve any of this? No. I didn’t pay for the tickets. Pam received four such tickets as a free gift from Peter B of “The Pulse” who has done some podcasts for “My Sanctuary Healing” and Hudson River Care and Counseling Center. He gave these to us as a free gift. I, Pam, a church deacon and his son, were the recipients of this gift.
This is similar to God’s grace. For those of us who will receive the gift of heaven from God, we must never feel entitled to it or that we have earned or deserved it. It is a gift. How do we respond to gifts? With gratitude. If the Holy Spirit tells us that heaven will be given to us, we are obligated to live lives that honor and show gratitude to God.
It was a great gift that I received on Friday night. I owe a lot of gratitude to Peter B. for his wonderful gift to us.
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To read more of Pastor Mark’s writings, please order copy of his book: https://deepriverbooks.com/books/the-circle-of-seven/
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