A seasonably chilly winter night in mid-March was quickly made warm when 8 national championships, some of the best amateur basketball players in America, and the ever-thirsty ESPN conglomerate descended on Moon Township, Pennsylvania. And what brought the University of Kentucky and their bluegrass power to lowly Robert Morris University in March? Weren't the Wildcats supposed to be gearing up to defend their 2012 NCAA title in some major U.S. city? Not hardly...as a matter of fact, they didn't even qualify for the Men's Championship tournament. UK's lackluster season left them only able to compete for the National Invitational Tournament; a sort of you're-good-but-not-good-enough type of event. Even more strange was that the mighty Wildcats were playing at RMU. Usually in the NIT, the higher seeded team hosts the lower seeded team at their facility. But Rupp Arena (home of the Kentucky Wildcats) was ironically hosting the second round of the NCAA Men's tournament. So, with all of their history and tradition and legacy of winning; about 20 or so young and middle-aged men left the "real" tournament to go take on a bunch of no names in some less-than-hick-town school. However, someone forgot to tell the Colonials to be intimidated.
And instead of this small institution being shook about the giant, the results indicate it was the other way around. One Kentucky player was quoted as saying "everyone seemed real, real close"; referring to the modest confines of the Charles L. Sewall Center on the RMU campus. The crowd that gobbled up the 3,500 tickets were more than rowdy showing their support of the home team Colonials; and equally as belligerent against the visiting Wildcats. And ultimately, the soon-to-be-NBA players got handled by a group of...uh...scholar athletes.
While proper planning can lead to a sound performance, I believe being prepared is only a piece of what allows us great triumphs. But without the desire to conquer, especially when the challenge is the greatest, the preparation is in vain. It's almost daily that I meet master's level college graduates who are struggling to find employment in our counseling field. Certainly they're educationally qualified; but they have no real burning to help people. Not only is this evident (and so I don't hire them) but it's dangerous for them. Because if they do get a job, they could run into that one person that forces all of the textbook and class education into oblivion. The only defense available is what was stored inside the heart. Unfortunately and likely, these counselors will request to work with someone else. They flee from the difficult.
Many of us are similar; where we want the accolades that come with glorious victory but we want no parts of the toughest battles to get it. And often that battle is an internal one; where the things that wake up with us, hang with us all day, and go to sleep with us whup us constantly. Actually, these are the battles; and running from them isn't avoidance, it's losing. But as family members of God, perhaps we should be the aggressor in these situations. I'm not suggesting antagonizing, but considering that our weapons are engineered by Jehovah-Nissi (Exodus 17:13-16), how can we lose?
Make the world a better place, punch a bully in the face.
Peace
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