So there I was, one seat from the very top row, eyes glued to the field, waiting for something amazing to happen, my one and only flaming red Nebraska Huskers T-shirt worn proudly, just like the other 80,000 Husker fans in the stadium. The sight was pretty impressive. For three hours, we were the third largest city in Nebraska. A ball game has to be one of the only places where they can pack that many people in that small of a space and not have the masses revolting for lack of leg room.
The players came jogging out, the crowd cheered, the whistle blew; they even set off a couple firecrackers. Let the game begin! I was on the edge of my seat, staring down at those hundred green yards, explaining to my sister what was going on . . . as if I knew myself!
And then we lost. Not just lost - but badly lost. Embarrassingly lost. 45-14 - and that sounds closer than it actually was. At least I can say that I personally witnessed from beginning to end the worst Nebraska football game in half a century. That’s something, I guess. “The wave” went four entire times around the stadium. That was the most interesting part of the game. Possibly the most impressive too. But I’m not trying to bash Nebraska. I’m trying to talk about victory.
Cause I’ve been thinking a bit - about my life’s purpose. Well, not just mine. But the purpose of every spectator in those stands. What we aim towards and fight for. And what would possess us to give up half our Saturday, pay money, drive for hours, fight downtown Lincoln traffic . . . all to see Nebraska lose. Badly. And then I thought, “If people will go that far to witness defeat, what might they do if the victory was already assured? If a bunch of college students will train that hard and study that long and put that much effort into a game they can’t win, what would they be like if they knew they couldn’t lose?”
Cause the victory is sure. Not in Nebraska football obviously. But in something much more important. Because Jesus lived His entire life sinless, because He died the only perfect man, because He conquered death by coming back to life - because He’s already won the war that we could never win . . . victory is now ours. All we have to do is accept it. In our lives, in our seeking to draw deeper into the Father’s heart, we must never forget this.
I expect these sorts of lessons when I’m working with horses or watching a sunset. But the worst Nebraska football game in half a century? I guess if God can teach me something there, He can teach anywhere. The world is His classroom, and He takes every chance He gets to show us something new and incredible about who He is.
