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Joe Torre. Manager of the New York Yankees. About to escape the heat of a June afternoon in Philadelphia and find refuge in the player's area of Veterans Stadium. What happens next is told in an article by John Feinstein called, "Pride of the Yankees" in the Washington Post Magazine, July 25, 1999.

A middle-aged man calls out Torre's name. He stops, thinking he'll sign an autograph. Instead, the man just talks. "I met you almost 30 years ago," he says. "I was in high school, and I wanted to drop out. My parents asked you to talk to me one day because they thought I might listen to a ballplayer. They were right. I'm a lawyer now. I just wanted to tell you thanks."

Torre is stunned, though thrilled.

"I had a little, tiny, vague memory when he brought it up," he later said. "But that was it."

Torre can't make it to the door before he's stopped again.

"Twenty years ago I had cancer," a young man says. "They thought I was terminal. You were with the Mets. You came to see me and gave me a pep talk. I never forgot it. When you were sick, I realized I never said thank you."

Again, Torre is almost speechless.

Listen to his later comment:

"It makes you realize what all of us in sports can do if we put just a little effort into things. And I mean just a little. A word here, a pat on the back there, a phone call. Right or wrong, because of who we are and what we do, it can have a tremendous effect on people. It's something I wish we could all be a little bit more aware of."

And that, my friends, will preach. I don't know how many 'thank yous' you've received in life. Perhaps you've deserved more than you got. But your many 'little efforts' for good make life possible, whether or not you play sports or become famous. Some may sit down around a Thanksgiving turkey next week with true gratitude for you, though they never had a chance to say so. And know this. There is one who never forgets. There's a God who promises to remember even a cup of cold water given in his name. And his thank you will be wonderful indeed!

Rick Cupp is the minister for Kenai Fellowship at Mile 8.5 of the Spur Highway. For more information, call 283-7682. Sunday Bible Classes are held at 10 a.m,, worship at 11:15 a.m. and Wednesday worship and Bible classes at 7 p.m.