SURROUNDED

Paul O'Neil, [former] right fielder for the New York Yankees, experienced just about the worst thing you can imagine, the day of the final World Series game [in 1999]: his father died. It was an "expected," death. He'd been sick a long time. And because his father's death had been expected, and because he hoped, I suppose, that this would be the last game, he chose to show up to play...

I watched his face closely during the game. Every time he came up to bat, you could tell he really wanted to make a statement for his Dad... the winning homer... the fielding play that saves the game. But he didn't. He walked once. He flew out once. And I can't remember what he did the other times, but it wasn't memorable.

Anyway, when the game was over, there was obviously an incredible sense of relief and celebration among all the Yankee players. You've seen the scene a hundred times: the pitcher and catcher hug, just in front of the mound. Within seconds, they are swarmed by all their other teammates in a huge group hug that defies all rules for how guys are supposed to act around each other. I saw as Paul O'Neil also joined this circle, too. He was celebrating with the rest of them. But all of a sudden, I think the reality of his father's death finally first sank in, right there on that field in front of fifty thousand fans, and millions more on television. The pressure of the game was gone, and the reality of the sadness hit him like a ton of bricks. He began to cry. He turned his back away from the cameras. But the camera tried to follow him. And then, what happened is that Paul O'Neil simply moved into the big middle of that celebration amoeba. His teammates could see how he was feeling. And when they saw him, those closest to him, immediately encircled him and stopped their cheering and their celebrating too. They physically surrounded him, and made a space for him. And they quite literally turned and shoved the camera away! And then, Paul O'Neil, still crying, simply fell to his knees, hidden and surrounded by those teammates. And those friends, as he fell to his knees, encircled him like a cloud, like some band of angels, sent to care for him in that moment.

If your loved ones have died, what I want you to hear is this: when they came into heaven, they too were surrounded by a loving cloud of angels that enveloped them like those Yankees enveloped Paul O'Neil. They were welcomed, with open arms, into that great cloud of witnesses. The angels comforted them. And the angels can come and surround and comfort you in your grief too.

-- Copyright Eric Folkerth 1999. All Rights Reserved. (Used with Permission)


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