One might think this a silly question, but just how long will eternity last?  Have you tried to dwell on the concept at any time in your life?  We are told that our life is but a vapor.  Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.  Poof!  One minute, you are…

A big league pitcher, sitting on top of the sports world.  You are embraced by an entire city due in part both to your success of winning over 20 games one year following up on winning 16 the year before as well as your over-the-top charismatic personality that is an instant draw to anyone who crosses your path.  Stout numbers these are for any pitcher to do once, much less in consecutive years.

Two memories stick out for me boldly when I remember Jose Lima.  Several years ago I went with a friend to an Astros game while they still played in the Astrodome.  This was the last year of that stadium and it was a point where Lima was on top of the baseball universe.  After the game was over, as I often did as a teenager and young adult, we went to the exit of the stadium where the home team players exited to go to their vehicles after taking their showers and preparing to go home, for the purpose of possibly securing some autographs.  On this day I remember a large crowd.  I remember many players coming out of the tunnel and speedily making their way to their cars without so much as a tip of the hat to the fans.  Except for one guy.  Jose Lima.  He stood out there in the sweltering summer heat for at least 30 minutes ensuring he got to every single person he could get to.  All the while, he was begging people to let him go as he had somewhere he had to be.  Even once he made it to his car, people were still following him.  He would stop as he drove down the parking lot, roll down his window at each group, and sign a few more.

I also remember that magical shutout he threw for the Dodgers in the playoffs seemingly years upon years removed from the height of his career in Houston.  Once the Astrodome, which was known as a pitcher’s park, was closed and the team moved into the new stadium which is now called Minutemaid Park, Lima’s career hit a very rocky stretch.  He was a fly ball pitcher which worked great in the cavernous regions of the Astrodome, but did not bode well in a hitter’s paradise like the new park, which at inception was called Enron Field.  His career took a drastic turn for the worst, but there he was on that fall night at Dodger Stadium, once again providing a great thrill to the throngs of fans that loved him.

To this point I have not really even addressed the personality that this man possessed.  He was a commercial star in the city of  Houston and even produced his own music at one point.  Energetic, charismatic, and generally full of life were very apt descriptions.

Until this morning on May 23, 2010, when early in the morning, while sleeping, Jose Lima had a heart attack and passed into eternity.

From CBS Sports:

- Authorities say paramedics found former major-league pitcher Jose Lima in full cardiac arrest at his home in Pasadena early Sunday, and he was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

When Lima went to bed last night, he had no idea nor inkling that he would never wake up.  He would never hold a baseball, or dance the salsa, or sing merengue again.  Today, however, he is still facing his eternal destination.  Death is only a passage to an eternity with or without Jesus Christ.

At church tonight, a missionary to Australia that spoke for us gave this analogy of eternity.  Imagine a sparrow flying to the beaches of Australia and picking up one grain of sand.  One little grain.  The sparrow then takes off on a long flight to the Sun where he deposits his cargo.  He then takes the long flight back to earth where he heads to Madagascar and picks up just one one grain of sand.  Back to the Sun he heads to make another drop.  Back again he returns, this time to Colorado where he picks up the tiniest of pebbles from a Rocky Mountain stream, and then soars off again.  Imagine this sparrow continuing this task until he has taken every single tiny portion or grain or piece of Earth and deposited it on the sun.  Billions of years would easily pass by in the completion of this task.  Eternity will have just begun.

Early this morning, Jose Lima faced the Creator of the universe, his ETERNAL destiny complete.  His eternity just began.  One day, full of life and charisma.  One year, crowds and throngs enjoying your stature.  One moment, facing eternity. Not one single person is promised one more second of breath in this life, yet all are promised eternity.  Was he ready?  Are you?  Please contact me if you either are not, or don’t know…

David

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