I remember playing football on the playground as an 8 year old. When I was quarterback, I only had one play—the “Hail Mary.” I would tell everyone, “Go long!” My friends would try to tell me they were open short, but I wouldn’t hear them. I wanted to go long on every play. Of course, going long back then was about 10 yards, maybe 15 if you had a good arm like mine. I would drop back to pass, fling the football as far as I could, and hope one of my teammates would come down with it. I thought any play that didn’t result in a touchdown was a failure. I didn’t care about field position or time of possession; I just wanted to score as fast as possible. Obviously, that wasn’t the best strategy for success.

Some people live their lives the same way I played football. Every play is a “Hail Mary”—desperate attempts to “score” quickly. But life doesn’t have to be that way. We can turn our lives into a championship season, because God has a game plan for us.

God’s playbook, the Bible, has a play for every situation. If we commit to studying His Word, we will find everything we need for success. But just like in sports, reading the playbook alone isn’t enough, we have to study it and execute the plays.