(Sorry--one more post on UNC and basketball...mainly just ramblings from a fevered, worried, obsessed brain. So again, please feel free to just delete or ignore this. After all, this will all be over in a few hours and then we can all go back to focusing on the mess in the world.)
Okay, let's just get this out of the way right now--my husband is right: I've lost all sense of perspective. Yes, I'm the tiniest bit embarrassed and mortified that there are all kinds of issues of world shaking importance going on out there...and all I can think about is a basketball game to be played in a couple of hours.
The wait is agonizing, and yet, I want the wait to last forever. Because as long as we're still waiting, we're not losing. That's a warped and negative perspective, I know, but there you go. I can't even allow myself to imagine the possibility of winning. Instead, all I'm doing is trying to prepare myself for defeat. Right now, Eeyore is my spiritual mentor.
... which reminds me of watching UNC games many years ago with my dear Daddy. Daddy was big on preparing yourself for the worst...the inevitable worst, at least when it came to UNC basketball. It could be two minutes into the beginning of the first half, and if UNC got down by 3 points, that was it. "Oh no. This doesn't look good...we're not gonna win this one," Daddy would groan. I can relate. (Note to my husband and children: I come by this naturally.)
My dear sister, Mary Norris, on the other hand, is the complete antithesis. If you ever need encouragement, call my sister. Carolina can be down by 25 points with just two minutes left in the game, and she's still saying, "Come on Heels, you can do it. I know you can do it. I saw Dudley Bradley come back against Duke when we were down by 8 with just seconds left...You've got the fighting spirit. You're wonderful. You can do it..." Believe me, with Mary Norris in the room, it's never over till it's over. Which is why it's waaay more fun to watch a game with sweet Mary Norris than with yours truly, Negative Nellie.
Sigh. Somehow, this isn't making me feel any better. I know I need to get busy getting things done. Doing important things. Doing good things. Running those errands, cooking those meals, cleaning up that clutter, folding that laundry, writing those notes, accomplishing something positive for the world...
yet try as I might, the only thing my fevered brain can consider is the game. I know, I know. Shameful. Shallow. Selfish.
...but, oh mercy, I sure hope Joel Berry's ankles are feeling stronger. Will Isaiah be able to make a lay up? My, how we need him tonight. And there's Justin's 3 point shooting--we need him to be hitting it, Lord! And we need Luke...and Theo...and Meeks--God bless him!--and Tony and Nate...and...
I've read about every article--and texted and emailed them all back and forth with my family and friends. I love how Justin writes "God's Will" on his sneakers and tells reporters how his faith is what's most important to him and how he seeks to play for God's glory. I love how the first words out of Kennedy Meeks' mouth, after he played the game of his career on Saturday night, were: "All the glory be to God. Without Him we wouldn't be here." I love how hard these guys have worked and how they've refused to ever quit. Have I mentioned that I love this team? Have I mentioned that I'm obsessed and need to get a grip? Oh goodness gracious!
I had the joy of eating lunch with Janie (our senior at Chapel Hill) today...and yes, pretty much every syllable of our conversation focused on the Tar Heels. We are pathetic..but we can't help it. She's got a bottle of champagne she bought on sale from the CVS pharmacy (well known for their fine wines and champagne) last year the day of the championship game...which she obviously never popped. Janie stuck that bottle in the back of her closet with a note attached to it saying, "Purchased the day UNC should have won national championship, let it not be popped until they do." She picked it back up the other day and took it back to her house in Chapel Hill...hoping and praying that this might be the year. But if not, she'll stick it back in her closet.
Oh mercy, how I hope that bottle doesn't have to make a return appearance in her closet.
I write all this simply to say, I'm in good company. I have brothers and sisters all losing their minds and texting back and forth. I have dear friends calling and texting and emailing back and forth--most of them about as obsessed as I am. I have children and their friends wearing their lucky jerseys and carefully planning where they're watching the game and hoping hard for a victory. I have folks I've never met who live all over this country who are just as focused, preoccupied, and worthless today as I am, because they love the Tar Heels and love this team.
So to any fellow Tar Heels out there, let me remind us all to be thankful that we've even had this opportunity. Yes, our hearts may be broken come a couple hours from now, but to quote the great Dr Seuss, "Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."
I'm so thankful and happy that Justin and Kennedy and Nate and Luke and Isaiah and Theo and Roy and all the rest of them happened. I'm so thankful I got to see them claw and fight their way to the championship game. I'm so thankful I got to text and call and cheer with my children. I'm so thankful I got to buy one more Carolina blue tee shirt. I'm so thankful, as I shared in my last blog, that they taught us all that it's always too soon to quit and it's never too late to start. I'm so thankful for the sheer fun and excitement and craziness and joy of it all.
So no matter what happens tonight, thank you, Lord, for all of it.
Oh and one last thing--and I really will drop this whole UNC obsession after this and get back to normal (eventually) in the days ahead--I'm thankful that their group text name is "Redemption." Redemption--what a beautiful word. The word redemption in biblical times meant “to buy out," and it was a term used specifically referring to the purchase of a slave’s freedom. For believers, that's exactly what Jesus did for us on the cross--He redeemed us. We were slaves to sin and death, but Christ purchased us by His death and gave us our freedom. We're not longer in bondage to sin and guilt and death, praise God!
Just a reminder about what life is really all about! And it's not a basketball game...or any other thing we tend to obsess and worry about in this world. It's really all, all, all about Jesus--who He is and what He did for us. Thank You, Father, for sending the greatest of all Gifts (Jesus!) to meet the greatest of all needs (our sin and death) to accomplish the greatest of all deeds (Redemption!) to purchase the greatest of all joys (our salvation, eternal life, and heaven!).
Now that's something really worth cheering about! THANK YOU AND PRAISE YOU, LORD, FOREVER AND EVER!!!
To God be the glory.
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