Moneyball

(the team with the most runs wins... it's a fact)

Moneyball

The conventional wisdom in baseball has long been that great players look and act a certain way. Future promise could be ascertained merely by watching a young player play.  Speed, throwing, hitting for average, hitting for power and fielding were the essential five tools that a player ought to have and to be deemed a "five tool player" was the ultimate compliment.  But Sabermetrics and Moneyball changed all that. Bill James and disciples like Billy Beane started looking at what REALLY mattered in winning baseball games.  They broke the game down into minute pieces, found the statistics with the highest correlation to scoring runs and sought out players who could deliver.  This new approach took those who had been deemed marginal and instead called them undervalued.  Suddenly guys who didn’t look the part had great worth.

“But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”” -1 Samuel 16:7

Thankfully, God takes a “moneyball” approach to us as well.  It’s not the awesome prayers we give at family dinners, the way we belt out the hymns on Sunday morning, or all the work we do on church boards that matter. Instead it’s the way we live, the way we treat the hurting and the lost, and how we live outside the limelight that show our true commitment to the Lord.

What’s your heart look like?

Thanks for all you do.

Brian

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Volume 6, Number 43