Life isn’t fair.
Last Thursday afternoon shouts echoed through my family
room. Big Ten Basketball Tournament time
had come, and the Northwestern Wildcats (my alma mater) were on the brink of
making the NCAA tournament. Never in the
history of the NCAA tournament (which began in 1939) have the ‘Cats made it
into the Big Dance, so this was a HUGE game.
I felt fortunate that we got to play the Gophers (face it; they’ve been
embarrassing this year). Conventional
wisdom held that Northwestern just had to beat the Gophers…and history would be
made! The monkey would be off our backs!
I held my lucky Northwestern gnome and cheered as the ‘Cats
took a second half lead. Everything
seemed to flow our way. Then…Northwestern
suddenly forgot how to play basketball.
Their shots fell short. I
grumbled. They dribbled off their feet. I complained.
The lead disappeared. OK, I
yelled a wee bit. The game went to overtime,
and the ‘Cats went from bad to worse. I shouted
more than a wee bit. As the final buzzer
sounded, with the Gophers winning the game and dashing my hopes, I fell into a
stupor.
Life isn’t fair.
Northwestern players are true student-athletes. They go to class. They earn quality
degrees. They graduate! The school has always done things the right
way. If there were justice in the world
Northwestern would at least have made the NCAA tournament ONE time.
Life isn’t fair.
Some people work hard in life and make very little
income. Others do next to nothing and
sit on vast wealth.
Life isn’t fair.
Some people abuse their bodies in all sorts of ways and live
long, healthy lives. Other people watch
what they eat, exercise regularly, and get the proper rest…and die young.
Life isn’t fair.
God never promised that it would be. Jesus didn’t come to
live on earth to bring fairness. Heck,
he got put to death for crimes he didn’t commit! Jesus came to live with us in the messiness of
life. We live in a broken world! ”For God so loved [that broken] world that He
gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish, but
have eternal life.”
Life isn’t fair…but God loves us and claims us in the midst
of the injustice. Is that enough?
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