As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and it’s interpretation, he worshiped. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the Lord has given the host of Median into your hand.”
– Judges 7:15 (ESV)

It’s not entirely legal to steal first base from second, but in the early 1900’s, no one had thought to make it illegal. According to John Thorn, co-editor of Total Baseball, two players stole first base – Fred Tenney and Germany Schaefer before the rules were changed. According to Thorn, “The idea was to induce a throw so the runner on third could score. According to Adam McCalvy of MLB.com, rule 7.08(i) states: “Any runner is out when—after he has acquired legal possession of a base, he runs the bases in reverse order for the purpose of confusing the defense or making a travesty of the game. The umpire shall immediately call ‘Time’ and call the runner out.” In 2013, Milwaukee Brewers shortstop Jean Segura sort of stole first base, but he wasn’t called out because his backward advancement was due to bad baserunning as opposed to an intention to confuse the defense. Weird!

The Bible is filled with all kinds of “strange but true” moments. The Old Testament story of Gideon and his mighty army certainly falls into that category. Gideon prepared to do battle with the Midianites with a powerful army of 32,000 men. God had other plans in order to prove that the upcoming victory would belong to Him and not to the power of Gideon and his men. Gideon’s vast army was slowly reduced to only 300 men. If that wasn’t strange enough, God armed the 300 men with horns, clay jars and torches. After encircling the Midianite camp, they blew their horns and shouted, “For the Lord and Gideon!” They broke the jars holding their blazing torches in their left hands and the horns in their right hands. The Midianites panicked and turned on each other. Victory was achieved and not one man in Gideon’s army had drawn his sword! God can do the unimaginable anytime He chooses!

Heavenly Father, thank you for your love for me. Teach me today not to rely on myself, but to put my complete trust in you. In your strength all things are possible. Amen.