A troubled man made an appointment with a rabbi. He was a wise and gentle rabbi. "Rabbi," said the man, wringing his hands, "i'm a failure. More than half the time I do not succeed in doing what I know I must."

"Oh," murmured the rabbi.

"Please say something wise, rabbi," pleaded the man. After much pondering, the rabbi repplied, "Ah, my son, I give you this bit of wisdom: Go and look on page 930 of The New York Times Almanac for year 1970, and maybe you will find peace of mind."

Confused by such strange advice, the troubled man went to the library to look up the source. And this is what he found-lifetime batting averages for the world's greatest baseball players. Ty Cobb, the greatest slugger of them all, had a lifetime average of.367. Even the King of Swat, Babe Ruth, didn't do that well.

So the man returned to the rabbi and questioned, "Ty Cobb,.367. That's it?"

"Correct," countered the rabbi. "Ty Cobb,.367. He got a hit once out of every three times at bat. He did't even hit.500. So what do you expect already?"

"Aha," said the man, who thought he was a wretched failure because he succeeded only half the time at what he must do.

Theology is amazing. Holy books abound, even where we don't expect them.