I Ponder Thusly

The Yankees weren't doing so hot at the beginning of the '96 World Series, but something turned things around. Sports reporter Chris Carpenter gives a lesson in the power of words in the article "It's Not Hard to Understand," part of which is typed below.

Following Game 2, as my cameraman and I were leaving the deathly silent New York clubhouse, we began to discuss what was wrong with the Yankees. We continued our conversation as we waited for an elevator. As the brushed chrome elevator doors opened, I blurted out, "I just don’t understand why New York isn’t hitting?"

Suddenly, a commanding voice answered my rhetorical query.

"I just don’t understand it either," bellowed Yankees owner George Steinbrenner as he stepped from the elevator. "But I am certainly going to find out why."

With that he patted me on the shoulder and walked briskly down the hall in full Yankee swagger toward New York’s clubhouse. To this day, I do not know what he said to his players that night but whatever it was it must have been incredibly motivating. The Yankees won the next four games (three of them in Atlanta) to win the series.

Looking back on that night by the elevator in Yankee Stadium, I am struck by the power of communication. Words give form to our ideas and are expressions of our feelings. Words can bring clarity to a situation or they can bring muddled confusion. They can serve as great pain or soothing comfort.

Whatever George Steinbrenner said to his team, whether threatening or encouraging, undoubtedly inspired them to play better baseball. History bears that out.

Just as Steinbrenner inspired his team through the spoken word, as Christians we need the word of God to inspire us and provide a clear path for our lives.

In Psalm 119:105, David writes "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."

We need God’s word to provide us with wisdom, power, and love. To know what is right and wrong we need to search the scriptures to find truth and to know what His plan is for us.

We cannot possibly survive without the word of God. For every question there is an answer. For every crisis there is comfort. For every moment of despair, there is victory.

Without the word it is easy to say ‘I do not understand." But with it, we can keep ourselves on track as we travel through life.

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