“I believe that we will win.” Together….united….hoping against all hope
that Hoosiers was about to play out in our favor. Knowing this chance won’t come again in their
“lifetime”
He has set eternity in the hearts of men. The epic battle of good and evil – of men of
courage slaying monsters….it has been written on our hearts. We all know it, embrace it. That is why we cheer for the underdog. For the one we know can’t really win, but
somehow our hearts tell us it can happen.
David vs. Goliath
A baby in a stable one day conquers a dragon.
Life defeats death.
Light drives our darkness.
Love overcomes hate.
The meek inherit the earth.
Mary is the first to see Jesus after he rises from the
dead.
A little boy is used to feed 5000+ by faithfully giving
all he has.
A widow’s pennies are cherished by the God of the
universe.
Moses stuttered but set a nation free.
Joseph was sold as a slave…falsely accused of a crime…yet
honored by a king as a prisoner.
Esther risked her very life for the sake of a nation.
Because we’ve had more than our fair share of things not
going right. Just in the past 10 years
we’ve witnessed 9/11, Katrina, tsunami disasters, the earthquake in Haiti. So much pain and we all know this is not the
way things should be. All of humanity
can agree that something is gravely wrong with this world.
Even my students have suffered more than I believe they
should. Over and over we’ve seen
it. Suicide, car accidents, loss of parents, hunting
trips gone horribly, horribly wrong.
Even in the short time I’ve been here we’ve lost two students. Just this past week I witnessed two come
terribly close.
So here we were. Tied
at 56 and going into overtime. We
weren’t supposed to have come this far.
Yes, the kids talked about a state championship, but we adults knew the
truth.
We were not supposed to win this game. The other team was too big, too strong, too
experienced. They’ve played in the big
games before….6 years in a row, in fact.
This game should haven’t even been close.
But even so, overtime.
And there they were – over two hundred of our kids standing together,
cheering on their classmates as they played in one of the greatest high school
basketball games I have ever witnessed.
One turned to the others and began this cheer…
“I….I believe….I believe that….I believe that we….I believe
that we will win!”
Such hope, optimism, excitement. I heard one person say the cheer was
stupid. A reporter later tweeted that it
was the most cliché cheer in high school basketball and it needed to go. I disagree.
For me, this was the most beautiful and precious moment of the whole
game. Let’s not underestimate the power
of teenagers united together for a cause, even if this time it was “just a game.” Let’s remember that they are far more likely
to engage in raucous “hate the other team” chants than this simple, innocent
creed. Let’s thank the Lord that their
hearts are still convinced that good can conquer evil in this world…and they
expect it.
Sometimes it doesn’t go like it should….in basketball or in
life. Stephen was martyred. Moses never entered the Promised Land. David was unable to rebuild the temple. The prophets were tortured; Paul
imprisoned. I could go on and on, but
you can find it all in Hebrews 11. Sometimes, in basketball, size and skill
have their way. Shots that fell in the
third quarter suddenly won’t drop the last thirty seconds of overtime. Officials make questionable calls. The final
buzzer sounds. It shouldn’t have ended
this way, but it did.
We may not always see the promise come to fruition.
But we still believe.
We don’t lose heart. We tuck our
heads down and head straight for the rim, knowing the prize is worth any
scar. We give up our rights and obey our
Father’s commands because the outcome is not in doubt. He is more than worthy of all we have to
give.
I believe…
….more than that, I KNOW….
I believe that we will win!
“Then it will come to pass, the saying that is written:
Death is swallowed up in victory.”
