Wow! What an awesome day! First its a great day to be a Mountaineer with the basketball team going to the Sweet Sixteen. That’s the only redeeming quality of my March Madness Bracket!
But even better – this is the 100th Post of the Daily Buffet! That’s worthy of a celebration! I know that writing and posting all this nonsense has helped me tremendously. Its my hope that it as also been of some positive benefit to everyone who uses their time to read it.
That sort of makes me want to sing along with Miriam:
Exodus 15
The Song of Moses and Miriam
1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD :
“I will sing to the LORD,
for he is highly exalted.
The horse and its rider
he has hurled into the sea.
2 The LORD is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will praise him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
3 The LORD is a warrior;
the LORD is his name.
Acknowledge where you strength comes from this day and this weekend, and remember that we are just one week away from the Passover and Easter – and anniversary of the coming of our Savior.
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.
Have a great day and steel your mind for a great year ahead.
28 So let us be thankful, because we have a kingdom that cannot be shaken. We should worship God in a way that pleases him with respect and fear,29 because our God is like a fire that burns things up. (Hebrews 12:28-29, New Century Version)
