We Are The Champions

On Sunday afternoon at the Stoltz Sports Center on the Jon Davison Court at the University of Dubuque the UD Spartans Men's Basketball team took on the Knights of Wartburg College. At stake? Only the IIAC Conference Championship! Win or go home! Spartans clashing with Knights!

After the first twenty minutes the Knights were poised to turn out the lights on the Spartans. At the halfway point UD was down by six points. For the fifteen minutes of halftime the crowd sat on their hands with heads hung low, shoulders slumped with the decibal meter reader registering negative numbers.

Then the second half began. Wow! What a comeback. Spartans began knocking down three pointers and then there was an electric dunk that sent the crowd into wild hysteria. Knights could not buy a basket in their quickly tarnishing armor. And before you knew it the game was all but over. We were just waiting for the clock to run out. The Spartans won 73-60, outscoring their opponents by nineteen points in the second half. The buzzer sounded. Game over!

"We Are The Champions" blared over the loud speakers while players jumped into each other's arms and pure delight washed over the faces of families, fans and players alike. The ladder was placed under the basket and each player took his turn to cut a piece of the net to hold on to forever as that great reminder of "remember when..." The head coach was the last one to cut down the remaining net and the jubilant crowd went crazy.

Perfectly in tune with the band Queen I was singing at the top of my lungs, "We Are The Champions!" Congratulations Spartans!!

My iWitness...

It struck me last night... while my voice was still hoarse from yelling, cheering and singing, "is the word "Champion" in the Bible?"  Here I am belting out We are The Champions and I was wondering if being a "champion" was even in the Bible.

When we are talking about "victory"... you better believe that concept and word are prevalent in the Bible. "Death is swallowed up in victory."  Paul encourages us to run the race so as to "win" in order to take posession of the prize that has been prepared for us through Christ Jesus.

But there is only one "Champion" mentioned in my Bible.
Are you ready for this?

His name is Goliath!

"And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span." (1 Samuel 17. 4)

This champion was as arrogant as they come. His ultimate mistake was to make fun of our God in the face of a young boy who was "a man after God's own heart" - David.

Listen to what happened next...

David approaches the "Champion" Goliath with a slingshot and five smooth stones. The Champion chomps at the bit to take out the boy and before he knows what hits him, he is hit with a stone right in the middle of the forehead and you can hear the crowd cheering... "Timmmmber!!"  Down goes the Champion.

"Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled." (1 Samuel 17. 51)

Pay attention to the Philistines... When they "saw that their champion was dead, they fled."

Guess what? When the disciples of Jesus saw that their Savior was dead, they fled. Only John stuck around.

Here's the good news... Our Champion, Our Savior is not dead! He is alive! Death is indeed swallowed up in Victory. Jesus has overcome the last enemy - death. He is risen. He is risen indeed!

We don't ever have to flee. When Jesus rose from the dead, the ultimate game of life versus death was over. Jesus won. That game is over. With our trust in Jesus and with His promise of eternal life for all those who believe the only thing left to happen is for the nets to be cut down.

So now we wait... the time between the last buzzer and the last thread holding the net to the goal seems like an eternity. It's not. It just seems that way. With each passing day we are one day closer to seeing the nets come down and hear the heavenly host of angels singing together...
We Are The Champions!

And that's my iWitness..
Laugh often and Fear not!
David!