A Dubious Record

PROVERBS 24:16

I was looking up a baseball stat recently and in the "lifetime achievements" section I came across a list with some rather impressive names on it. At the top of the list was Reggie Jackson. His name was followed by Willie Stargell. Also on the list, near the top, were Jose Canseco, Tony Perez, Mickey Mantle, Sammy Sosa, and Willie Mays.  

Do you know what lifetime achievement this list represented? The most strikeouts. Can you believe it? Reggie Jackson, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays. These three men combined struck out almost 6,000 times. And yet, that's not the legacy they left to the game; each left a legacy of greatness. 

A key to that legacy can be found in the fact that they kept stepping up to the plate. Even when the number of strikeouts were piling up, even when the slumps  extended game after game, even when their failure caused their team to lose games, even when disgruntled fans called them "overpaid bums"—they kept stepping up to the plate.

The wisest man who ever lived wrote these words...

Though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity. (Proverbs 24:16)

You may have a string of strikeouts behind you, and you may feel as though you're on the verge of setting the world's record for failure. Keep stepping up to the plate. No matter how many times you miss, if you keep swinging you'll eventually make contact.

— Steve May

MONDAY JULY 16, 2007