SFA was the team expected to lose. They were facing the number 6 team in the nation. Lumberjack fans hoped, prayed and cheered for the upset, for a surprise, for Hollywood to write the Sweet 16 tournament script this year, but none of that happened. They got close. They came within the tie it will take me to write this sentence from winning. Then they fell short. Actually, even worse, Notre Dame managed to come take it away. The Lumberjacks didn't fail as much as someone else their success at the last second and a half, literally.
But basketball fans throughout the whole country sat up and took notice of those young men and a little school in a little town in Texas. SFA coaches will use this year's season and exposure to recruit even better players. High school players who had never heard of Stephen F. Austin or Nacogdoches, Texas will place the Lumberjacks on their possibility to play for lists. SFA Alumni who never went to a basketball game during their tenure at the school are posting video clips, photos and quips from and about the game across the world in social media in celebration. People are proud and excited about the team. Even NBA players are taking notice and asking each other if they'll be facing or playing with some of these young men in the future.
But they lost, right? Right. No one is upset with them? Nope, everyone is thrilled and rejoicing at how well they did. They failed. No, they did better than analysis of the two teams would say possible, and they are a great example of heart and teamwork and a commercial for the school. They may be a little disappointed, but I hope they are not down on themselves.
They do not need to hang their heads, they do not need to see anything negative and they do not need to mourn their performance. And neither do we. I'm not saying that we do not need to mourn their performance. We do not need to beat ourselves up over our own. We face so many giants in our spiritual journeys each and every day. Attitudes, reactions, choices, and more all become obstacles and barriers that make it more impossible on our own to walk rightly before God than it would be for a high school basketball team to win the NCAA Tournament. It just can't happen. When we even so much as show the desire to walk with God, to get it right, the angels shout with joy and Daddy beams with pride. He gives us grace to give us the chance to succeed. But when we fall short, we don't have to hate ourselves. We don't need to bear ourselves up. We don't need to see ourselves as failures and quit. We are the pride of our Papa. The fans our throwing parties in the heavenlies in our honor, over our performance. Really? Really. Because to even see our need for grace, to accept what was done for us on the cross and start the transformation from sinner to saint is more than was ever imagined possible. We've come so far. We are not expected to win on our own. In fact, it isn't ever going to happen. But we will win in the end because we are not on our own.
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