He was about six feet tall, carried a lot of excess weight, and seemed always to be dressed sloppily.  A description sometimes heard seemed to apply:  He looked like an unmade bed.  He was a fellow student at my college, and the only name I ever knew him by was Mousey.  He and another fellow I did know by name, Larry, challenged my friend Jeff and me to a doubles ping-pong match.

Jeff and I played a good bit of ping-pong in those days.  We figured, with Mousey being who he was, and with Larry being about half Mousey’s size, we stood a pretty good chance.  After all, Jeff and I were in good shape, we were strong and had quick reflexes.  We played the game regularly.  No problem.

We were correct.  It was no problem --  for Mousey and Larry, or really just Mousey.  I never saw anyone play ping-pong like Mousey.  The match wasn’t even close.  A few times afterwards, I saw Mousey play and beat two people at a time -- while he was sitting in a chair.  The guy had ping-pong covered!

Watching the Olympic games recently, I saw a lot of world-class athletes performing at a very high level.  All-time Olympic champion swimmer Michael Phelps is described as being the prototype for someone in his sport.  His body is perfect for what he does, so maybe there shouldn’t be much surprise that he excels.  Yes, he works very hard to perfect his skills, but he is the right person in the right place to succeed, according to expert analysts.

Some of the women gymnasts, especially from China, are so tiny (and young), it’s a wonder they can do such amazing things, requiring so much strength.  They showed the world what they could do.

You can’t always tell about a person, just based on his or her appearance. 

In the text coming up this Sunday from Matthew 15, we find a woman who was, according to the standards of the insider religionists of the day, “not worth nothin.’”  Jesus himself even applied to her the description of “dog.” 

Yet, it turned out that her faith was recognized by Jesus as being greater and more appropriate than those righteous folks who made the rules for everyone else. It even was more effective than the faith of Peter, as displayed in the preceding chapter.

Blessings ensued because of the quality of the faith of this person, so easily dismissed by those who were “superior” to her.  Read the story to capture the details.