The baseball bounced at least a foot in front of the plate.  Not even close.  And the umpire quickly made the call: “Strike!”  The batter couldn’t believe it.  His little league coach suddenly got quite vocal (to put it mildly).  Parents shook their heads in disbelief, with some following the coach’s example of berating the teen-aged umpire.  The catcher?  He probably just grinned.  The pitch wasn’t anywhere near the strike zone, but a strike it was.  Why?  Because the umpire said so, and he had the final say.  This happened several years ago, but the story came back to my mind this week as I read Colossians 3:15, where the Bible says, “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts….”  I read the verse as a part of the preparation for last Wednesday night’s Bible study, and it has stuck with me ever since.  You see, the word “rule” there is easy enough to understand, but when you dive into the full meaning, it becomes even more powerful.  The word translated “rule” is a word that literally carries the meaning “to arbitrate” or “to umpire.”  In other words, let the peace of God “sit as the umpire” in your heart.  You see, life can bring chaos, agitation, disorder, confusion, and many other emotions; and when that happens, we need an umpire to make the call and restore order.  I take my chaos, agitation, disorder, and confusion to God, and His peace then takes over (see Philippians 4:6-7).  So, no matter what swirls around me or inside of me, God’s peace has the final say.  And I don’t know about you, but I need that on a regular basis.  Without it…well, I don’t know what I’d do.  The circumstances may not change; in fact, they may worsen, but God’s peace is umpiring my heart.  Just as the old hymn says, “Peace! Peace! Wonderful peace, coming down from the Father above.”  By the way, the little league umpire who made that call will remain nameless; I would never want to embarrass my son.