Boy Mocks Guy Who Prays to God before Baseball Game until He’s Taken to the Hospital — Story of the Day

A boy mocks a colleague on his baseball team who prays to God before every game, then he is injured in an accident and doctors tell him he will never play again.

Jacob Dixon was the star of his high school baseball team up until Mike Howell transferred in. If Jacob was good, Mike was better. He was great on the field and great at bat.

Jacob's perfect nose was severely out of joint. He was used to being the most popular guy in school, and he was certainly the best-looking and most popular.

Then, shy, humble, talented Mike arrived, and everyone just loved him and forgot about Jacob. He had to have his revenge...

Jacob just knew that no one could possibly be as humble and perfect as Mike. There had to be a catch somewhere. But Mike just kept on being perfect, in school and on the field.

Jacob finally discovered Mike's flaw at the dugout right before one of the baseball games began. While all the other players were warming up. Mike was standing quietly to one side, his head bent, his baseball cap in his hands.

Faith can change the world.

Jacob stepped closer and heard Mike whisper, "Dear Lord, I beg you to be the strength in my hand, and the goodness in my heart today. There is no victory but yours..."

"Hey!" Jacob yelled loudly so that everyone heard him. "Mad Mike here is PRAYING to the Lord for victory!"

Mike turned around. He was blushing painfully and placed his baseball cap back on his head. "Shut up, Jacob," he mumbled. "That's a private thing."

"Private?" Jacob asked. "If this is your secret, share it with us! We ALL want to be champion baseball players. Did you have your glove and your bat blessed?"

But Mike just shrugged and walked off. That day he was even better than before, and if the team won, it was thanks to the two home runs Mike scored.

But Jacob just couldn't let it go. He realized he'd found Mike's weak spot, and that teasing him about his faith upset him. "Lay off, Jacob!" he'd cry.

Even the coach called Jacob out for bullying Mike about his praying. "Show some respect, Jacob," the coach warned. "Leave that boy alone."

"I respect him," Jacob said smiling. "I'm just showing him my admiration..."

Two weeks later, Jacob's dad was driving him to practice when their car was hit by a truck. Jacob and his dad were rushed to the hospital.

Mr. Dixon broke a leg, but Jacob had a severe head injury and was in a coma for several days. When he woke up, the doctors did several tests, and looked very grave.

"Jacob," the doctor said gently. "We are afraid the blow to your head has affected your motor control."

"What does that mean?" Jacob asked anxiously.

"Well," the doctor explained. "When people have a stroke, a small part of their brain is damaged, and so one side of the body is paralyzed. Something similar has happened to you.

"We don't know how much control of your left side you will recover, or how long it will take..."

"No!" Jacob cried. "No! I play baseball! I need to run and swing the bat and pitch the ball. This can't happen to me!"

The doctor was very sad. "Physiotherapy will help," he said. "But I can't promise..."

"Then get out!" Jacob yelled. "Leave me alone!" He started sobbing and punching his numb left leg.

A long time later, he heard a voice. "Hey, Jake..." Jacob raised his tear-stained face and saw Mike standing by the door.

"What are you doing here?" he asked angrily. "Have you come to gloat?"

"No!" Mike cried. "I came to see how you are and to tell you... I know you don't believe in that sort of thing, but my family and I, we're praying for you...And you know, prayer is powerful."

Jacob turned his back without answering and Mike went away. It's hard to face such a diagnosis when you're thirty, let alone when you're fourteen.

Jacob cried a lot that day, and then he thought about what Mike had said: 'Prayer is powerful.' That phrase kept echoing in his head over and over again.

So Jacob said, "God, if you're there, I need some help, please. I guess maybe I don't even deserve that you should listen, but I'm really scared. Mike says prayer is powerful, but I guess he means that YOU are powerful. I don't even know how to pray, so maybe this is really lame..."

Then Jacob remembered Mike praying before the baseball game and he said, "Dear Lord, I beg you to be the strength in my hands and the goodness in my heart. All the glory and every victory are yours..."

The next day, Jacob started his physiotherapy and he threw himself into it with all the strength and courage he possessed. When he came back to his hospital room, he would pray.

To the doctor's astonishment, Jacob started to recover beyond his expectations, and three months later, his recovery was complete. "I can't believe it!" he gasped. "It goes to show what motivation can achieve!"

Jacob shook his head. "No," he said. "It's the power of prayer."

When he came back to school, Jacob looked for MIke. "Thank you," he said. "You don't know what you did for me. That day, I started praying and that is how I got better. Next season, I'll be playing baseball again, and it's all thanks to you."

"No," Mike said gently. "It's thanks to the Lord -- and to your own faith."

The next day, Mike brought Jacob a gift. It was a Bible and he had underlined a passage he found particularly inspiring. Jacob read it and he was moved to tears.

It was a passage in Matthew, 17:20: 'He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Jacob had felt the effect of the power of prayer, he knew what it could do. It had not only healed his body, but it had also healed his heart of stone and set his soul free.

What can we learn from this story?

• Faith can change the world. Belief can heal not only the body, it can transform people's lives.
• Place your trust in God's hands. When terrible things happen, yield control of your life to God, and He will lead you to safety.

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If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a lonely old man who starts making baseball bats for a group of poor children he meets playing in the park.

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