March Madness and Christianity?

During Spring Break, I was able to catch the UConn vs. Washington game. Quite a game, in my opinion. Then, I heard the shocking news that #11 seed George Mason beat #1 seed UConn in the round of the Elite Eight! What the heck!!!

At dinner afterwards, someone had made the comment that in a certain sense, Christianity is the perennial underdog in our present-day world. Without over spiritualizing the image, we talked about how the Church always seems to find itself entrenched in some kind of struggle ... ala David and Goliath ... where it would seem that there is no way for the underdog to be victorious. One need not think very long and hard to find examples of this in today's world news. In each situation, the victor is not the one with the strongest muscles, the most advanced technology, the well-trained soldiers. Rather, the victor tends to be the one who finds themselves facing insurmountable odds. There is no other recourse for them than to turn to God for some help. And in each time, God pulls through. Not saying here that God wanted GM to beat UConn ... though some might think that. But rather, like it says, "God is close to those who call on Him," (cf. Ps 145: 18; Dt 4: 7).

Who'da thunk that we could learn a little something from a basketball game?