The Underdog in All of Us

The Mercyhurst women's volleyball team pulled off quite an upset tonight. They defeated a pretty solid team in Findlay to snap a six-match losing streak. It was their first win in the month of October! It's not that they haven't been close, because they have. It was just a matter of finally getting over the hump. It took an incredible team effort, four players had at least 10 kills. For all that the team has been through this year, it's amazing they are still fighting and clawing. You have to be proud of their spirit.

Our volleyball crowds usually aren't that vocal, but when the fans started to realize we had a chance to win, it got loud in hurry. We love the underdog. It's built into American culture. It's why we loved Rudy and loathe the Yankees (come on, everyone does). But even before it was in American culture, it was written down in history in the greatest history book of all--the Bible.

There are so many underdogs written about in the Bible. David defeating a giant...Moses--who was slow of tongue--helping to free the Israelites from the rule of the Egyptians...Gideon--the least in his family--becoming a great judge for God in Israel...the apostles--fishermen, a tax collector, and so on...

All of these people had doubts about themselves but with some trust in God, they were raised up by His mighty hand to do incredible things.

If you think about it, even Jesus was an underdog. He came to earth as a lowly carpenter, didn't really have a home as an adult, just traveled from place to place, and was even rejected and shunned. He wasn't rich or good looking, didn't have all kinds of money, (*cough Alex Rodriguez *cough) but He set an example of a perfect life to live and defeated death in one fell swoop. If Jesus' death and resurrection were written about in the sports pages, they would surely read, "Christ Overcomes All Odds", or maybe "Shocker for the Ages."

Really, even the apostles, who had more faith in Jesus than anyone was not expecting resurrection. The women at the tomb were amazed, Peter and John had to run and see for themselves.

It's obvious that God uses the unexpected or even the unwelcome to do amazing things and bring glory to Him. I just did a quick search on biblegateway.com. There are loads of favorable references to "meek," "lowly," and "poor." I know whenever I write a story or even design a media guide cover, I want it to be the best. I guess I feel that way so I can feel that I have an advantage on all the other sports information directors in the NCAA.

I'm pretty sure that Jesus never told us not to try hard to put forth our best effort. Actually, we are told to be diligent, and without working, we will not eat (2 Thessalonians 3:10). It's not about the effort, it's about the mind set. When I start wanting to be great for myself...I'm in trouble. I should want to be great for God, glorify Him in all things. And what is great in the eyes of God is not always great in the eyes of man. Jesus' life showed us that.

Let's all be the underdog.