The Bungee Cord .10-25-21

Hello,

Those of you longtime Bungee Cord readers know that I am a rabid fan of the University of Illinois Fighting Illini. I went there for my first two years of college and had some of the greatest times in my life and made friends that are close to my heart, even to this day. So, although I transferred to and graduated from Valparaiso University (I went there to get the courses I needed to go to Seminary), my heart stayed with the Fighting Illini. When I was there the football team and the basketball team were terrible, but it was great fun to go to the games, sit in the stands and soak in the excitement of Big Ten sports.

Over the years, we have had our moments of glory in football and basketball, but unfortunately, they have only been moments. Nevertheless, I have been true to my team. Rooting for them all these years even though they have been regular cellar dwellers of the Big Ten. If there’s a game, I look to see if I can get in on my TV, and if that isn’t possible, I look to see if I can get it on the radio. Truthfully, the radio is less painful because I can only hear how badly we are doing, rather than having to see it in front of my eyes.

Over the past several years, teams have often looked past us, putting their attention on a team that they will face in the following game, counting their game with us an automatic win. Such, it seems was the case this past weekend when the Fighting Illini travelled to Penn State for a football game. Penn State was a 23 point favorite, and the word was that they weren’t going to play their starting quarterback so that he would be ready for the big game next week against Ohio State.

Well! Look past us they should have not done, because from some reservoir of power, the Illini gave Penn State a real run for their money, and after 9 overtimes, the Illini WON! As I watched the end of the game with its repletion of overtime after overtime, I prepared myself for the cliff-fall that lay ahead. With each passing overtime, my hopes went higher and higher, and I knew that the fall that I was soon to feel would be further and further. But the fall didn’t happen! In the ninth overtime, Penn State didn’t score, and with a pass to a wide-open receiver we did. WE WON! OSKEEWEOWOW!

I jumped out of the couch in which I was sitting, clasped my hands around my head in awesome wonder and exhilarating surprise, and shouted, “We won! We won! We won! OSKEEWOWOW!

Now, I don’t know what is like to root for a team that almost always wins, like Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State, it must be very boring to be their fan. But for us Illini rooters, we rejoice over any win, even a win over the Little Sisters of the Poor. And when we win the big games the euphoria is volcanic! That is what is great about sports. A person can stick their neck out and lay their heart on the line for something that really doesn’t matter. Sports enable us to feel the “thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat” (remember ABC’s Wide World of Sports?) without suffering the consequences. Thankfully so for us Illini fans.

When it comes, however, to things that really do matter, the things in life where the consequences weigh heavy, sometimes as heavy as life and death….when it comes to these sorts of things, I am very happy to root for a constant winner. Constant victories are not boring. They are vitally important.

Jesus Christ is such a victor. When he died on the cross, he died once, for all. And when he walked out of the Easter tomb, he walked over every enemy in an eternal victory lap where tears of sorrow will never be known. “Death, where is thy victory? Where is thy sting?”

In the things that really do matter, I find myself overwhelmed in thanks to God for giving me someone to root for, someone to hang my heart on, someone that has stuck out his neck for me so that I don’t have to….Jesus Christ. Watching Jesus put every power under his submission is not boring. It is thrilling!

We won! We won! We won! ALLELUIA!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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