Easter: a Few Thoughts.

If anyone has been even remotely interested in the March Madness of late, you're familiar with Florida Gulf Coast University.  They've since lost in the pursuit of the Elite 8 but their exciting journey to be named one of the 16 best teams this year was certainly exciting.

And some of y'all may know Nick and I are State fans.  You didn't?  Stop reading this blog.  Come to my house.  We need to talk.

In any case, I'm pretty sure I went hoarse from yelling from the rooftops about the 30 for 30 Film that aired a couple weeks back that chronicled our 1983 Championship basketball team.

I'm going to cry just looking at this picture.

What's the common factor?  

They were underdogs.  

I spent a lot of time thinking about why people love the underdog so much.  Why do we pour our hearts into people or teams that we don't know and may never know just because our desire for them to succeed is so great?  Is it because everyone else counted them out?  Is it because they seemingly have no skill or ability to overcome the task before them, but in spite of logic, we WANT to believe that they can do it?  I really don't know.  It's probably a combination of many things.

But the question lingered with me.  The more Facebook posts I saw rooting for the FGCU Azul (that's a mascot?) and the more folks that told me how they too bawled like a child at the film begged my brain the question: why do people care?

On this Easter morning, Nick and I are celebrating our risen Savior.  His body was broken and bloodied beyond human semblance, hung on a cross, and then sealed in a tomb.  For three days, the world mourned.  Defeat seemed more than imminent, it was certain.  The lowly carpenter from Nazareth was not God as he claimed, but merely a man.  He didn't have the skill or ability needed to save mankind.  He was ordinary like everyone else.

But on this beautiful morning, we celebrate that it was not the end of the story.  With the stone pushed aside and the tomb found empty, we rejoice.  

Victory.

There is no greater triumph in the history of the world than what happened on this day.  And when God sent his son in the form of a helpless baby, to rely on the care of a teenage girl, the world would tell you...he was an underdog.  As he spent his life dining with prostitutes and tax collectors, loving the lame and befriending the outcast, the world would tell you...he was an underdog.  He didn't have the skills they thought he needed.  He didn't "get it."  

But my favorite part of the underdog story is the intangible.  It's the part of the story that you just can't explain.  There's no reason it should work...but yet every part of it works deep in your soul.  

Maybe it's a far-fetched metaphor, but I believe that God loves the underdog.  If he didn't, why would he have packed the Bible full of them?   As the wonderful Jimmy V says, "Every day, ordinary people do extraordinary things."  I think that's true.  When submitting our life to God, he will use us in ways we never imagined.  Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Rahab, Moses...just to name a few.  You can add your name to the list.  

When I opened my eyes this morning, I began humming one of my favorite songs we sing at church.  I hope we'll sing it at church later tonight but I needed to hear it this morning.  I googled it and found a random version by some lady I've never heard of...but she's pretty good.  

Please watch it. If you've read this much, just do me this one last solid.

Man, what a good day. 

P.S.  Nick and I are attending the 5pm service at Vintage today.   If anyone would like to join us...holla atcha girl.