Saturday, March 17, 2007

Bracketology


Bracketology

It only took three days. Already the bracket I filled out for the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament is a mess. I had Norte Dame and Maryland in the Sweet 16, but instead Winthrop beats the Irish and its another school from Indiana moving on... Butler. Where in the world is Winthrop and what do they teach?

There are 64 teams in the NCAA Tournament. 63 of those teams will end their season with a loss, and let me tell you just about no one out there who can predict precisely when and where those losses will happen. Even the winners of huge tournament office pools always miss at least a couple games.

If it is nearly impossible to predict a perfect NCAA bracket before the tournament, just think how much more impossible it is to predict where you are going in life. A movie from the 1990's, Run Lola Run, tackled that very subject. It showed how two minutes here and one chance encounter there can change the course of your life forever.

So if life is one big roll of the dice its comforting for me to know that God has a hand in it. Not so much because God has filled out a perfect bracket of my life before I was born. I do believe we have free will. But instead it is comforting to know that when we do get bumped out by a Winthrop in the first round, our Lord is ready to pick us up and send us back in the right direction again.

Often it is prayer, God's Word, praise and meditation that get me back on the court. At other times its a good kick in the butt. Sometimes a loving touch from my wife or my children can do the trick. Whatever it is... God is there. Wherever we end up... God is there.

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