I was flipping through the channels on my TV the other day and came across a softball game that was in the top of the final inning. The visiting team was down 3-4 with runners on 1st and 2nd and a full count to the batter. The pitch. . . The batter hit a line drive past the shortstop, and then as the left fielder charged the ball to make the throw to home, she picked up her glove too soon and the ball rolled underneath allowing both base runners to score. That put the visiting team up 5-4--a score by which they would win. After the game, the announcers were talking about the winning pitcher, saying, "She didn't pitch great, but she pitched good enough."

 

Most sports have a playbook or a set of rules to follow for their program. This book tells how things will be done on and off the field for success in the system. As a player, if you follow these guidelines, you should have success in the system. I recently heard one coach refert to his playbook as his "bible." Obviously, he highly values the book.

 

As we read through Psalm 119, we find many verses that reference God's Word. The author of the Psalms repeated over and over that God's Word guided him. He understood that God's Word was the only playbook he could follow that could give him true, absolute direction for his life.

 

There's a scene in the classic baseball movie "Major League" in which the team is having a bad flight on a below-standard airplane. During that scene, pitcher Eddie Harris, who professes to be Christian, notices his Buddhist teammate, Pedro Cerrano, crossing himself. Instead of rejoicing in the fact that Cerrano is looking towards Christ in this time of struggle, Harris berates him with these harsh words, "Oh, now you come around. He isn't fooled."