Our Compass in a Sea of Change

Baseball umpire Durwood Merrill tells of his rookie year of umpiring in the major leagues.  It was the first time he had called balls and strikes with the famous pitcher, Nolan Ryan.  The second pitch of the game was so fast that Miller never saw it.  He froze, unable to make the call.  Finally he yelled somewhat tentatively, “Strike!”  The batter backed out of the box and said, “Ump, don’t feel so bad, I didn’t see it either!”

This story is a good illustration of what is happening in the world today.  Change is occurring so fast that none of us can see it clearly.  Yet we have to make vital calls and daily decisions about very important things, all the time wondering if we are making the right ones.  There has never been a time when we have needed a standard more in our lives than we do today.  We need a fixed point, a true north, an unchanging standard on which we can base our decisions and not have to worry about changing them.  God has given us such a standard.  It is the Word of God, the Holy Bible.  It contains the rock-solid, never changing, and always-relevant truth.  Unbelievers might say the Bible is irrelevant and outdated.  Believers know that “…the word of God is living and active.  Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing the soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”  (Hebrews 4:12)