At home, full of grief and devastation over the loss of his best friend, Ben, Jonathan’s only solace comes from delivering the newspapers on his paper route at three o’clock each afternoon. In fact, the Independent Star-News never had a more dedicated delivery boy than they had in Jonathan over the days following Ben’s death. That and one other thing were the only things to bring him any comfort.
That other thing was a note that Ben pressed into Jonathan’s hand when they were lying side by side in Ben’s hospital bed shortly before he died. In all the confusion and ruckus that occurred in that room as they whisked Jonathan out of the room and called for the paddles to jump start Ben’s diseased heart, he had put the piece of paper in his pocket and forgotten it.
Later, when he remembered about the note, Jonathan took it out of his pocket, and smoothed it out on the front porch of his home where he sat waiting for the newspaper dealer to drop off his bundle of newspapers for the day’s delivery. It was something Ben had scribbled on the back of a hospital menu. On it were two brief lines: the first was not new to Jonathan. It had been Ben’s father’s favorite sermon based on the writings of the seventeenth century French mathematician and prose writer, Blaise Pascal:
THERE IS A GOD-SHAPED VACUUM IN THE HEART OF BEN.
For centuries, this concept had been a useful tool for believers to explain every person’s need for God to fill an emptiness in their heart that only He could fill — how when we try to fill that emptiness with anything else — money, power, fame, or someone other than God — we are never fully satisfied.
But the second line was most revealing about Ben and his constant personal struggle to believe in God with so many questions whirling around in his busy mind: Why was he here? Why was there a hole in his heart — a real hole in his real heart, that he knew would shorten his life? Why was he so different? The second line was a revelation perhaps even deeper than Pascal’s:
THERE IS A BEN-SHAPED HOLE IN THE HEART OF GOD.
And as Jonathan read that line over and over, it was almost as if he could hear Ben’s voice proclaiming adamantly, “AND I’M GOING TO GO FILL IT!”
The more he read that line, the more he knew that Ben’s lifelong war with God was finally over, and over before he died. No wonder he was so peaceful at the end. No wonder there was that rare look of contentment on his face in his hospital bed. And no wonder he was able to utter those final words to Jonathan, “It’s three o’clock. Gotta get the news out.” His work was done; it was now up to Jonathan to finish it.
There wasn’t anything about Ben that wasn’t loved by God. Not only that, but God created in His own heart a need for Ben that only Ben could fill.
And hasn’t He done the same thing for all of us? There is a place just for you in the heart of God.
It’s your shape.
Your character.
Your personality.
Even what you might think is wrong about you, is loved by God.
That was the news that Jonathan carried with him for the rest of his life, and it is the news we have got to believe for ourselves and the news we are getting out to everyone, everywhere. There is a hole in the heart of God shaped just like you. It’s grace turned outward.
Grace Turned Outward — to everyone, everywhere.
2026 Annual Fall Campaign — Gotta Get the News Out
The Catch Ministry is developing disciples to carry the Gospel of Welcome into the lives of others. Your contribution allows this work to continue and grow.
