Picked off

(Baseball is a funny game...)

Picked off

The strange ending of the third game of the 2013 World Series served as an apt prelude to the equally odd fourth game.  St. Louis was down to its last out when Allen Craig reached base with a sharp single. Because Craig had an injured foot, he was replaced by a pinch runner; a runner who was fast and smart on the base paths. But Kolten Wong was perhaps too excited about his opportunity to make a big play and perhaps too confident in his abilities.  In any case he forgot the most basic concept of base running…don’t get picked off.  Boom… just like that… game over.

“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8

When times are good or our skills are in great demand, our focus tends to narrow.  We see the task before us and begin to plan with certainty how we will succeed. With that narrowing focus comes the chance that big pictures elements are closing in, out of sight, ready to knock us off course. No place is this more true than in matters of a spiritual nature.  As soon as we think we’re bullet proof on a spiritual issue we are ripe for a test.  As Oswald Chambers put it, “An unguarded strength is a double weakness”.

Don’t get caught leaning the wrong direction.

Thanks for all you do.

Brian

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Volume 7, Number 26