Kindness That Echoes Eternity

A few years ago, a sports columnist named Steve Rushin wrote about a moment at a baseball game that stuck with me. It didn’t involve a home run or a dramatic win—but something much quieter and more meaningful.

Steve and his teenage son were at a Minnesota Twins game, sitting among the crowds when a foul ball came rocketing into the stands. Amazingly, his son caught it—his very first. He was thrilled, holding that ball like a trophy.

But just a few seats over, a much younger boy had tried to catch the same ball and missed. The boy looked crushed, eyes filling with tears, shoulders slumped. It was one of those moments where joy and disappointment collide in the same section.

Without hesitation, Steve’s son walked over, handed the ball to the boy, and said, “Here, you can have it.” No fanfare. No big speech. Just a quiet act of generosity.

The little boy lit up. His day was made. And Steve, watching this unfold, wrote later that he was proud—but more than that, moved. Because his son had given up something valuable, something that mattered to him, simply so someone else could experience joy.

There’s something deeply Christlike in that. In a world where we're taught to hold tight to what we get, moments like these remind us of the beauty in giving. Especially when what we give costs us something. That’s the kind of giving that echoes eternity.

(The story was originally told by Steve Rushin, a journalist and author, and husband of basketball legend Rebecca Lobo. He shared this story in an article for Sports Illustrated.)