Encouraging - March Madness

The enthusiasm and frenzy surrounding the NCAA tournament is virtually unparalleled. People skip work and even plan their vacations around the tournament. With free online brackets, friends and family across the nation do their best ESPN analysts impersonations. Everyone gets involved. Some pick teams by the team colors, favorite cities, alma maters, or surfing countless websites trying to cull vital information. The secret of the tournament are the upsets and the buzzer beater shots. The little unknown school that upsets the big tournament giant or the last second shot to seal the victory creates drama. People love drama. In order to maintain interest if your bracket gets busted with a few wrong picks, the latest creation are bracket busters (or second chance brackets). I imagine quite a few people will be joining these bracket busters with teams like Kansas and Wake losing. In the midst of all the drama, my family attended church Saturday night. This particular service included a handful of adult baptisms. One by one, the pastor asked each of them a series of questions, while their stories flashed on the screen. At the conclusion of ushering these new converts into the fold I was particularly struck by the subsequent golf claps by the congregation. These people had recently made a decision to follow Christ and we acted as if they just had a nice chip shot onto the green. The irony of the moment was not lost on me. We go crazy over our sport teams, but are controlled, reserved and proper when someone makes a decision with eternal implications. I felt very guilty and convicted. I wonder what would happen if next time I hopped on my chair and screamed my head off instead?