The Bungee Cord   3-22-21

Hello,

  

Those of you who know me, know this about me; I am a bit of a zealous University of Illinois fan…well, “a bit” may be a bit of an understatement.  I went to the University of Illinois for my freshman and sophomore year of college, and then transferred to Valparaiso my junior year to provide classes I needed to go to seminary.  Although I left the U of I, my heart never did.  The best friends of my life are the people that I shared those two years with.  We joked around and shot the s#@% till late in the night.  We played basketball at IMPE for hours at a time.  We suffered through classes together.  We went to church together.  We cared about each other.

 

We also went to every football and basketball game together.  Although we were terrible at the time (in both sports), it was great fun to be in the stands cheering, complaining, and occasionally rejoicing together.  So wonderful were those times, that when I watch Illinois games on TV in my home, I almost feel like I am back in the stands with my friends.

 

This year’s NCAA basketball tournament had all the trappings of a time to rejoice.  The Illini were stacked with great players.  They had amassed the most wins in the Big 10.  They won the Big Ten tournament, and they were even one of the number 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament.

Could it be that this might be the year for we long suffering Illinois fans to lift our heads and sing?!?!

 

Yesterday, I made sure that I was ready for the game.  I put on my orange and blue Illinois socks.  I wore my orange and blue striped shirt.  I had my orange and blue Illinois sweatshirt on.  I donned one of my numerous Illinois baseball caps.  I was ready for the tip-off at 12:10.  We started slowly and almost timidly.  I got worried.  The other team seemed to be scoring with ease.  We struggled.  We turned the ball over time after time as if it was a pancake.  I got more worried.

 

We mounted a couple of surges, but none that seemed to last.  Just enough, though, to keep my hopes intact.  I could feel myself getting anxious and worried.  But as the clocked ticked passed 5 minutes left, I began to have bad feelings.  My nerves rose.  My shouts at missed free throws and missed layups got louder.  And then it became all too clear with a minute to go, that we were going to lose….and lose pretty badly, at that.  Anxiety transformed into huge disappointment.  We lost.

 

Truth to be told, I wasn’t surprised.  I’ve been an Illinois fan too long to think we were going to go through that tournament and mow everybody down.    And I have to say that when I watch Illini games in which we are winning, I find myself more anxious about the possibility of losing than excited about the fact that we are winning.

 

I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be a fan of a college team that mows everybody down…you know, like Ohio State seems to always do in football.  I envision myself sitting in the stands confidently harassing the other team’s fans.  I see myself laughing at the other team as it runs onto the field, lost in their delusion that they might win.  I imagine myself saying “ho hum” to the scores the other team might make, knowing it would not even come close to our score.  I can hear myself cheering with unbridled enthusiasm from the beginning of the game to the very end.  I wonder what it would be like to root for a team that unlike Illinois, always wins.

 

Actually, I don’t have to wonder, because I am on one.  Jesus’ team.  Amazingly enough, Jesus, the Son of God, picked me to be on his team, and he signed me up with an eternal contract.  A no trade clause (that he put in), and an everlasting housing agreement.  And the most wonderful thing about being on Jesus’ team is this; we have already won the victory.  When Jesus died on the cross, he brought all the foes of life down to the grace, and when he rose from the dead, only he rose back up again.  Everything else was left dead, and with his first steps out of that tomb, he leaped up high with a final, game winning slam dunk.  Jesus has already won, and so have we.

 

So, maybe I can confidently harass the other team’s fans and all the evil they might spew at me.  Maybe I can laugh at the other team that runs into my life with the delusion they might win.  Maybe I can say “ho hum” to the few scores the other team celebrates.  Maybe I can cheer with unbridled enthusiasm from the beginning of my life to the very end.  Maybe I can.

 

No.  I can!

 

Have a great week

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger