All In For #5

I’ve been silent in the blogosphere for a week.  I’m not entirely sure if anyone really noticed...but leading off with that admission seemed to be necessary.  

Anyone who knows me -- or has seen my blog, my social media, my vehicle, my office, my home or my wardrobe -- knows I am a fan of Duke basketball.  Seeing them thoroughly trounced by Louisville on Sunday in the Regional Final certainly didn’t leave me overjoyed.

Chances are nearly everyone who may bother to read this post has seen the horrific injury Louisville’s Kevin Ware suffered.  Having his leg literally snap right in front of his teammates on the bench left some players gasping for air and wiping tears from their eyes while others (according to sideline reports) were throwing up from the sheer gruesomeness of the fracture.

While there has been much written and reported about the incident, one thing was certain to me -- Duke had NO chance from that point on.  Even though the play actually resulted in a Tyler Thornton three-pointer which tied the game, the site of a fallen teammate and the sound of his screams followed by his impassioned pleas for the Cardinals to, “just get the win”, was enough to convince me Louisville would advance to the Final Four (and most likely the championship).

Adidas even recently created special warm-ups for the team to wear at this weekend’s Final Four in Atlanta:

It just makes sense.  

Even people I’ve spoken to this week who have no athletic background whatsoever seem to “get” what is happening with Louisville.  Rallying around a teammate, working hard to fulfill his wishes, unifying in his honor -- are all things even non-sports fans understand.

Ironically, I have had several conversations with people this week about what I do and why I do it.  These well-meaning people genuinely cannot understand how I can devote my days to the “job” I have -- trying to do anything I can to serve, love, encourage and elevate others.

To me it is exactly the same thing.  

The drive of the Louisville players to “win” for Ware is rooted in the fact that they’ve struggled, suffered, succeeded and stretched themselves together.  Every weight lifted, line drill run, film session endured bonded them together.

For me, the connection to Jesus is much the same -- good and bad, hope-filled and hopeless, joy and sorrow --  He has experienced and endured it all (on His own AND together with me).  

Ware’s compound fracture was indeed traumatic and brutal.  He will forever wear its scars.  His teammates will never forget the image of it, either.  It is nothing, however, when compared to the suffering Jesus endured which we remembered just last week (and each time we take communion).   

My life of faith is no big deal.  It is just me rallying on behalf of Jesus.  If Louisville is motivated to win a championship because of Ware, how much more should I be driven to fulfill Jesus’ wishes?

“All in for #5” isn’t a hard concept for the general public to grasp.  

Why should:

“Everything you do or say should be done to obey Jesus your Lord.

And in all you do, give thanks to God the Father through Jesus...

In all the work you are doing, work the best you can. 

Work as if you were doing it for the Lord, not for people.”

Col 3:17, 23

be?

I want to bring honor to Christ, to fulfill his wishes...and to win for (and with) Him.  I’m not a zealot.  I don’t possess an extra dose of faith.  I just want to be a Champion.  He deserves that from me.