For the last several years, I have filled out a March Madness bracket, I usually go with my “mind picks” and not my “heart picks”. I usually try to spend a little time thinking about who really has a chance and how things might work out. Last year, I was second, if I remember right, in my bracket – maybe third. Not so this year. This year, I am casting caution to the wind and am going with my heart and soul!
As you know I am a huge West Virginia Mountaineer Fan, so this year I am going in all the way and picking them:
click on this pic to see my entire bracket
That’s right. All in – I am going all in. I am stepping out on faith in my Mountaineers, and placing my hope in them that they will not disappoint. The bracket has several heart picks, even though I was torn on a few teams and picked then to win a game against my better judgment ( PITT). However, I figured it made the conference look better if your opponents win a few as well.
Buts that’s been my theme for 2010 – being obsessed, going all in, and I felt this was a good way to demonstrate that in a tangible way, a way to express and consider this idea of not being ‘lukewarm‘. But really if the Mountaineers win, I will be extra excited, but I still have my life to live, my own job, my own responsibilities that will not really be impacted. Same way if they actually lose a game in this tournament. I will be disappointed, but I will still be a fan, and my life will go on(after a night of mourning!). I am not actually casting my entire hope in them. However, I do want to cast my entire hope in Christ, I want to be obsessed and go past just being a fan. I am stepping out on faith in my Christ, and placing my hope in Him. And this is a place where it actually can make a difference. You see, I may get made fun of (especially by my SEC loving friends) for my Mountaineer pick, and I may be pitied, but really not to much extent. But if I am wrong about putting my hope in Christ, 1 Corinthians 15 says I am “to be pitied more than all men.”
But, I know that He will not disappoint. Later in the same chapter it says this:
57But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
So, lets not be cold nor hot, lets not sit on the fence. Get in! All the way in.
Oh, and one last thing:
Lets Go Mountaineers!
