Ryno

I met my childhood hero at the White House many years ago. No, it wasn’t the President; It was Ryno.

“Ryno” is Ryne Sandberg. He was the second baseman for the Chicago Cubs when I was a kid, and he was the player my dad and my coaches told me to emulate. He played terrific defense (unlike most great players, his statue at Wrigley Field is of him playing defense rather than hitting), hit for a high average (with some power), and was a steady presence for his teammates. I spent countless hours as a kid pretending to be Ryno and working to play like him.

Ryno would eventually become a Hall of Famer, and I was so excited to meet him. Brooke—who was pregnant with our first child, Jude—and I made our way through the formal receiving line, which included President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush. I was admittedly distracted, though, because I saw Ryno was there, and I was desperate to meet him. I don’t normally collect autographs, but I most certainly got Ryno’s that day! It was a full circle moment for me—a chance to interact briefly with my childhood hero.

Ryno died this week. He was 65 years old and passed after a long battle with cancer. It feels like a strangely personal loss even though I only met him once, and very briefly at that. Ryno was not a friend, and yet his passing leaves me sad.

I think the reason is wrapped up in this inescapable truth: Even childhood heroes die.

It is a truth intertwined with one you and I have grappled with many times: We live now in temporary vessels but will live for eternity once those vessels are no more.

Perhaps you can relate, but I have at times felt invincible (at other times, I have felt very much the opposite—exceedingly fragile). But as a kid, some people seemed perpetually invincible. Ryno was at the top of that list for me, but someone else very likely comes to your mind. Someone who seemed larger than life, and whose reality seemed transcendent to you.

But the truth is this: Everyone has a coming appointment with physical death (Heb. 9:27). Hero or not, each of us will die. Your physical body will one day give out, and only your eternal being will remain. I confess much of this is beyond my finite mind, and yet it is the foundation of my greatest reason for hope, because my eternity has nothing to do with my fragile and failing body, and everything to do with the One who created me and called me his own!

So this week, let’s together reflect on what will matter into eternity. Because even childhood heroes die. You and I will one day stand before our Creator. What a glorious day that will be when, because of your belief and faith in Jesus, you will hear: “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matt. 25:21, 23)!

The following article originally appeared in Thann’s “The Equipped” Weekly Newsletter. For more information on Thann’s weekly email, click here.