I was reading recently about Cal Ripken’s record. You know which one I’m talking about: He played 2632 consecutive baseball games. This is a record that may stay in the books forever; he will certainly be remembered forever as a legend in the game.

Most sports records are set when a player gets on a hot streak — he has a good game or a good month or even a good season. Ripken’s record is the result of a ‘hot streak’ that lasted more than 16 years. Day after day he simply took the next step in the right direction, one game at a time.

Something many people don’t know about Ripken is that during his first year as a pro, while playing minor league ball in West Virginia, he made his mark in a different way: he committed a league-leading 33 errors at short-stop.

Not a good start. Since his dad was already well-known in the world of baseball, critics called him an over-rated kid, not cut out for life in the big leagues. But Cal Jr. kept taking one more step in the right direction, one game at a time. Later in his career he went 95 consecutive games without making an error, and committed only three in an entire season — another record he holds. Ripken’s habit of taking one more step took him on a journey from worst to first.

It’s a journey you can take, too. God wants to pour out his grace in your life. He wants to change you through and through. He wants to give you victory over sin, and the power to live the life of your dreams.

Today, if you feel like you’re the worst, he wants to help you move in the direction of becoming first.

Paul said, “For I am the least of the apostles. In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church. But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on m — and not without results.” (1 Corinthians 15:9-10)

God is ready to pour out his grace — his special favor — in your life, too. Accept it, and take that next step in his direction.

One afternoon a man named John, dressed in blue jeans, walked into a bank to cash a check. Afterward asked the teller to validate his parking ticket. The teller informed him that, according to bank policy, she couldn’t validate his parking ticket because his transaction did not involve deposit. He told her that he was a substantial depositor, but she wouldn’t budge. “It’s our policy,” she said.

John asked to see the bank manager. Because he had come in wearing construction clothes, covered with dust and dried cement, the bank manager looked at him with disdain and told him that rules are rules, and there was nothing he could do.

So John began withdrawing his money from the bank, $2 million altogether. And the bank manager learned a lesson about leadership … maybe.

A LEADERSHIP LESSON

The above story has made the rounds in a variety of urban legends, with different well known persons playing the lead. This version appeared as an actual news item in USA Today February 21, 1989, so chances are that it’s accurate. 

Regardless, it’s a good story that underlines a distinction leaders need to make:

-Training is learning the rules.
-Experience is learning the exceptions.
-Leadership is in knowing which to apply when.

Following the black and white of the letter of law is easy; you don’t really have to think about it. Applying God’s truth to the gray shades of the human situation is a greater challenge: it requires wisdom. This wisdom is acquired not by leaning on scripture less, but more. As was written about Ezra, “For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel.” (Ezra 7:12)

As Solomon said, “Every prudent man acts out of knowledge.” (Proverbs 13:16) May we become so grounded in God’s word that we can see clearly in every situation how to accurately apply his truth in wisdom and righteousness.