Emptiness

David Jeremiah points out that, "In a Sports Illustrated interview, baseball hero Mickey Mantle once described his long battle with alcohol and his heartbreaking problems with his family. The interviewer then asked, "So how are things going with you today, Mickey?"

"Better," was the reply. "I haven't had a drink in eight months. I'm starting to get my life back together, but I just feel like there's something missing."

"Here was a living legend who had played 2,401 games for the New York Yankees from 1951 to 1968, hit a record 18 homers in 12 World Series, and had entered Baseball's Hall of Fame in 1974. But he was empty, for the accumulation of wealth, fame, and accomplishment didn't satisfy.

"Is something missing in your life?

"Near the end of his life, Mickey Mantle found what he had always been looking for - Jesus Christ. It was another former baseball player, Bobby Richardson, who led him to Christ. At Mantle's funeral, Richardson told of helping Mantle receive the Lord Jesus as his personal Savior. "I am trusting Christ's death for me to take me to Heaven," Mickey Mantle said on his deathbed."

(Turning Point Daily Devotional, June 12, 2003)