Unexpected Victory

“It is the game, not the odds that determine victory.”

Loren Thornburg

With all of the unexpected outcomes from the NCAA basketball tournament I think we can all agree that odds don’t determine the win.  Although they are often a great predictor of the game, there is always room for unexpected victories.  I can hear my dad's voice saying “that’s why you go ahead and play the game.”  Even in games where the opponents are of the widest spread they still play the game.  I wonder though how often in life we look at the odds and decide not to play.  We opt out of trying because it seems that our chances of success are stacked against us.  However, just as in basketball, so it is true in life…there is always room for unexpected victories.  No matter how true the odds may seem there is always a chance that they are wrong.  For they were only meant to predict and not to determine.  So to that dream that seemed out of reach, to the goal you gave up on and to the hope you thought hopeless…don’t give up.  Unexpected victories are always a possibility.  

“Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites.  I am sending you!”

Judges 6:14

The Bible is full of unexpected victories and unlikely outcomes.  The gospel seems to thrive on them.  Moses an unlikely leader, Saul an impossible choice for evangelizing and Gideon’s small army a miraculous victory.  The point of every story is to point to the One who writes the story rather than the ones in the story.  It was not that Moses, Saul or Gideon changed into someone great, but that they trusted in the One who is Great!  In Judges we read the story of Gideon overturning an army of 135,000 with just 300.  Gideon wasn’t called to become something great, but rather “to go with the strength he had” because it was God who was sending and who would make it happen.  The same is true for you.  Go with the strength you have and trust the Lord to make it happen.  You are His and it’s His story, so you can trust Him, the One writing the story to make it turn out right.  When we trust in Him we can expect some unexpected victories along the way, for that seems to be the way He does it.  

Holding Onto Hope

“When nothing makes sense, 

when the waiting seems too long, 

when it seems impossible, 

and when all hope seems lost…hold onto hope.”

Loren Thornburg

It’s been a week without finding the missing plane.  It’s a mystery leaving many families in anguish with each passing day that makes any hope of finding them less possible.  Yet, many families are still holding onto hope.  Hope is the anticipation or expectation that things will turn out for the best.  Each day that passes without any signs of the circumstances changing makes it harder and harder to hold onto hope.  We all know what it’s like to be in the place where things seem hopeless.  It is there that we will either hold onto hope or despair.  It’s hard to hope and to keep believing in something that seems impossible.  It’s a risk that often we aren’t willing to take.  We think we are protecting ourself from disappointment with despair.  Yet, it is in holding onto hope that is the greater protection, from the despair which is actually the bigger danger and detriment.  So even when all hope seems lost…hold onto hope.  It may be the very thing that saves you.  

“…and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Romans 5:5 NASB

God is all about hope.  He is hope.  Our hope is in Him who loves us so much that He not only gave His Son to have relationship with us but gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit that we might know this love.  This verse on hope comes in the context of suffering and how suffering leads to hope.  Not just any hope but a hope that doesn’t disappoint.  This is not a hope because everything is going well, but a hope even when there seems no reason to, when suffering and sorrow prevail.  Still even then we are free to hope because our hope in Him is solid and sure.  The difference is that our hope is in Him and not in any outcome.  We can hope for those outcomes because we trust in a God who does not disappoint.  We may be disappointed at times but even still our hope in Him is sure.  His love for you is sure regardless of your circumstances.  When all hope seems lost, hold onto Him who is our Hope who does not disappoint.  

Differently Wonderful

“Who you are is a purposeful design.  You are different and you are wonderful.”

Loren Thornburg

“The Voice” is a television show where people get a chance to perform for four accomplished musicians judged solely on their voice.  The range of sounds and styles is amazing.  Often it seems they are not looking for what they have already heard, but something uniquely amazing.  One of the judges once commented, “Never apologize for who you are.”  Oh how true.  Although we may need to apologize many times for the things that we do, who we are is not one of those things.  Who we are is a purposeful design.  It is differently wonderful and uniquely amazing.  We offer something no one else can…it’s who we are.  I’m not even talking about our talents and gifts although those are important and valuable.  Yet who you are in its essence offers something that no one else can.  Often this gets missed as we try to fit into who we wish we were or think we should be.  Yet, here is the truth:  You are different and you are wonderful. 

“You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.”

Psalm 139:13-14 NLT

David writes this psalm aware of who God is and how this amazing and all knowing God is involved in every detail of our design.  It’s crazy to think that the God who purposefully created the oceans and mountains purposefully created you.  Like everything else God does, it was an intentional design.  Often I wish I could change things about myself and yet God made me with that uniqueness on purpose and somehow calls it wonderful.  Sometimes it feels like I am too complex for my own good and yet that is part of the wonderful.  He made you uniquely amazing and wonderfully different.  You can trust the One who created the heavens and the earth.  He knows what He is doing with you.  Embrace His design in all of it’s complexities.  The more you embrace it in you, the more you can enjoy it in others too. 

What I Would Have Missed

“The things of greatest worth require the greatest perseverance.”

Loren Thornburg

I remember wanting to quit.  It was softball season of my freshman year of high school and It just got too hard with no guarantee of it getting any better.  With some encouragement I didn’t quit and I am so glad I didn’t as I look back now on all I would have missed.  I would have missed friendships, college ball, playing overseas, and so many opportunities and experiences that I hold of great worth.  I am so glad for all those times I decided to endure even when it seemed too hard.  I’ve had this many times throughout my life.  It’s that moment where you decide whether you are going to stay the course or not.  It seems life requires perseverance.  We can’t escape the call to persevere.  At times it can feel like it’s just not worth it, but just think what you might miss.  What great loss for those who give up when it gets hard.  For they miss what’s on the other side of difficulty.  As I look back on the rewards I’ve found from persevering I am encouraged to do it again knowing that something good often awaits on the other side.  

“For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what was promised.”

Hebrews 10:36 NASB

Here in Hebrews a word of encouragement is spoken to those tempted to give up on their confidence in Jesus.  They are reminded to draw on their past experience to gain strength for the future.  We need that same word of encouragement.  It’s hard to remain faithful when the promise seems far away and uncertain.  The promise is worth it.  His promises are always worth it.  We all face the temptation to give up when it gets hard.  It seems the easy thing to do.  Yet, when you compare it with the loss of what you miss it’s actually not the easier thing at all.  Following Jesus is marked by the need of endurance.  It’s all throughout scripture to wait, persevere and endure because it doesn’t come easy to us, but it’s worth it.  He is worth the persevering, enduring and waiting.  Don’t miss what He has for you on the other side of enduring.  He’s worth it.