Did Faith in Jesus Punch UConn’s Final 4 Ticket?

Letter to Philippians: Being Holy Week, perhaps it wasn’t miraculous that UConn beat Duke on a miraculous last second shot. Miracles did & still do happen regularly in the name of Christ. But what we witnessed in UConn’s 2d half play was a driving SPIRIT, the kind Jesus loves.

Wait a second. Doesn’t the New Testament record how the Messiah repeatedly urged His followers to “ask anything of the Father in My Name and He will grant it”? Yes. Yet He was of course referring to “spiritual” needs & desires, not of the worldly kind. Surely, down 19 points in the first half, the UConn players & its faithful fans were fervently praying for a miracle comeback. They got it. But not because they simply asked for it. Rather, they got it because of their extraordinarily spirited mindset, will and play, the kind Jesus suggested the Holy Spirit encourages.

I couldn’t help recalling as I watched Duke’s lead slowly  melt, that 40 years ago, I coached a high school aged team from Chicago’s Moody Bible Institute in the Word of Life’s Annual International basketball tournament. Playing two games each day over a 10-day period, my Cabrini Green youngsters, most of whom had never played organized ball before, amassed a 20-1 record. We were much shorter than the other teams. Our center was 6-3 and the rest were 6 foot or under. But we had amazing speed and heart to match it. In fact, our motto & huddle shout out for the tourney had been “FAITH.” We had talked a lot about its meaning in team meetings: “Win, lose or draw we had committed to playing with a spirited Faith in ourselves, each other & most of all, playing for God’s glory, not our own.” In the championship game, we were down by 10 points with just 2 minutes to go. I reminded the boys of the inevitable test of their faith they had professed. After breaking that last huddle, the sudden difference in the play on the court was like a parting of the Red Sea. Like UConn in those closing moments against Duke, we somehow evaporated the opponent’s big lead and scored the winning basket in the last second. I’m convinced to this day, that like UConn, it was my team’s faith in Jesus and not Jesus who intervened to “miraculously” win that championship.

Davd Soul