Bundled up in a scarf and beanie with a few dozen other bleary-eyed SPU students, I stood in one of my favorite places; the canal right next to SPU's campus. It was 6:30 Easter morning and we all showed up to hear about see the Son risen while watching the sun rise. The morning started with an upbeat version of "Oh Happy Day" led by guitar and upright bass. I watched some people step back and forth or maybe raise their hands a little but most people were too cold to really be "into it." Charismatics are more fun to worship with than Methodists anyway. As I closed my eyes and began seeking the Lord, he showed me a picture.
It was about 2,000 years ago and Jesus was stepping out of the tomb. He was refreshed and smiling and as he stood there grinning, with a smirk he coolly said two words; "I won." Then WOOSH, fast forward back to 2010, my perception of the postmodern Jesus (jeans, flip-flops, V-neck and all) is standing at my side with a hand on my shoulder. Again, he only says two words; "It's ok."
That Easter morning I was feeling more than a little down about where I was at, and in some ways still am, in my life. "It's ok" was all I needed to hear. Feeling slightly embarrassed about old sins and dissatisfied about my relationship with him but also not feeling motivated enough to do much about you'd think what I needed was Pentecostal prayer meeting. Nope. Two words. "It's ok." That was all I needed.
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If you like basketball at all you probably watched some of the NCAA March Madness Tournament. I have to say that the most remarkable moment of the tournament wasn't a slam-dunk, an amazing comeback, or even a Cinderella/underdog victory story. It was the West Virginia vs. Butler game.
It was one of the Final Four games and West Virginia, like all the others, was hoping to take home first place. Senior Da'Sean Butler, one of the best players in West Virginia's history and a major force on the team since his freshman year, was hoping to be an NBA draft pick. Da'Sean, obviously a key player, was bearing a lot of weight for the team and was needed desperately to take the team to the final game. If they won this would also be Coach Huggins first ever NCAA championship.
With a few minutes left in the game Da'Sean went for shot and came down with an obviously painful and serious knee injury. Da'Sean was writhing on the ground in obvious pain both from the injury and from knowing his career was probably lost along with the game. It was painful to see the anguish on his face. In a few moments De'Sean's coach Bob Huggins was running out to Da'Sean.
When Huggins reached De'Sean he basically got right on top of him, put Da'Sean's head between his arms and lowered his face to be just a few inches from his player's. I heard in an interview later that Da'Sean began apologizing right away. He apologized for letting down the team and especially for not getting the coach his first championship trophy. Huggins response was nothing short of fatherly. Huggins told Da'Sean "It's ok," that he was a very special kid, and, most importantly, he told him over and over that he loved him.
When we fall hard our Father comes running. He lowers himself down to where we are, gets his face in close to ours and as we lie on the ground crying out in our lowest of lows he says, "It's ok, I love you no matter what." What we have to remember is that it’s ok, God already won. Our sin is defeated and the trophy is his. All that's left to do is take his hand when he reaches down and accept his aid as he helps us rise again.
