Take delight in the LORD, and He will give you your heart’s desires.
~Psalm 37:4
Eternity with Him
Baseball fans experience happiness when their team wins, but they delight when their team wins the championship. My Angels won it all in 2002. The California Angels lost to the Brewers in 1982 despite leading two games to none. In 1986, they lost in the playoffs after blowing a three-run lead over the Red Sox in the ninth inning at home in Anaheim. The opposite of delight = first baseman Bill Buckner’s game six fielding error of a dribbling grounder against the eventual ’86 champion New York Mets. To begin the World Series-winning 2002 season a man named Brad Burlingame threw out the first pitch in Anaheim.
Brad’s brother, American Airlines Captain Charles “Chic” Burlingame commanded one of four jets hijacked by Islamic terrorists on September 11, 2001. A retired Navy veteran, Chic grew up in suburban L.A., riding bikes with his brother Brad around Angels Stadium. Brad arose September 11, 2001 to the shock of burning buildings on TV. What would happen next? A family friend phoned Brad, “Chic has been killed.”
On the ten-year anniversary, Orange County Register reporter Eric Carpenter told Brad Burlingame’s story of healing. Flight 77 had crashed into the Pentagon, killing 189 on the aircraft and another 125 on the ground. Full of jet fuel, the aircraft and building burned, leaving little remains. Recovery workers found a singed prayer card from his mother’s funeral Chic had carried. “I am the soft stars that shine at night. Do not stand at my grave and cry; I am not there, I did not die.”
Mr. Carpenter wrote: Says Brad: “It was my mom talking to us, saying, “’He’s OK; he’s with me now.’” Although Brad Burlingame died of cancer in 2015 his family’s story serves as an inspiration of finding delight in the midst of tragedy. Hope of eternity in Christ.
Angels fans remember the delight of winning the final game of major league baseball’s 2002 season. I celebrated with Angels fans as Darin Erstad caught the final out of their 2002 World Series game 7 win against the Giants. After many disappointing seasons, we finally won the last game of the season – baseball’s holy grail.
On September 10, 2001, I served as the overnight Senior Duty Officer at Coast Guard Air Station Sacramento, waking up to see on TV the same horrific sights Brad Burlingame and many others will never forget. God uses things for His good, including Chic Burlingame’s prayer card that survived the fiery Pentagon crash.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there, I did not die.
Yes, I delight in baseball. But I also delight in the LORD and look forward to the desire of my heart: Eternity with Him. I hope Jesus can introduce me to the Burlingame brothers in heaven.
Where were you on September 11, 2001?
What do you delight in?