"I wish I could be there in person ... and I can tell you, 'I cannot wait til the day that I can get back home," House Majority Whip Steve Scalise said Thursday in his first words to a public audience since being shot during a congressional baseball practice in June. The Louisiana Republican, who is still rehabbing in a hospital in DC, delivered the minute-long address via pre-recorded video to attendees of the Louisiana Family Forum's awards gala, the Hill reports. The 51-year-old Scalise sounded "robust," according to the Advocate, which has audio of the short speech. Scalise was accepting the conservative Christian organization's Gladiator Award. There had been talk Scalise would accept the award in person, but his video message was greeted with a standing ovation regardless. (More Steve Scalise stories.)