His Word Overcomes

Years ago, my son, Luke, and I were sitting on the “home run porch” watching the Texas Rangers play ball. For a while, I was confident enough in my athletic abilities to pray for a ball to come our way. It would be cool to get our hands on a real major league ball. 

In the fourth inning, Michael Young drove a homer right to my seat. If you saw it on TV, I was the fat guy pushing people over to protect myself from the monster shot. I screamed like a little girl and jumped two full seats to my left to avoid that ball. 

The awesome dad right in front of me – apparently a real man – held his glove up, caught the ball, then handed it to his very impressed 9-year-old. Luke looked and me. I looked at Luke, and we busted out laughing. 

Side note: Be careful what you pray for because you might look stupid when you get it. One of the guys I crawled over was a 19-year-old soldier on leave from Iraq. For some reason, the whole situation reminded me of Private First Class Brendan Schweigart. 

A New York native, Schweigart told his mother he always carried his Bible into battle, tucked underneath his bulletproof shield. One day, he was shot in the chest with a high-powered rifle. That Gideon Pocket Bible from boot camp saved his life by shielding his heart from the bullet. 

To this day, he has that Bible, bullet lodged into its pages. Sniper rounds entered his arm and torso, but the one meant for his heart stopped somewhere in the book of Psalms. I think it’s a great idea to keep your heart protected with God’s Word. 

Just like that soldier putting God’s word under his body armor didn’t know it would cause him to dodge a bullet, you and I don’t realize hiding God’s Word in our heart causes us to dodge something much more lethal – sin. Be intentional – shield your heart.  I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. – Psalms 119:11