One Shining Moment

The 2014 NCAA basketball champions…the Connecticut Huskies. If you read my blog post Saturday, you know I'm not exactly thrilled about how little the regular season means in determining a basketball champion. But they played lights out for six games and were the better team last night, so it is well deserved. Congrats to them!

If you followed it at all, you know that the key to their win was the awesome play of Shabazz Napier. Not surprisingly, he was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four. 

Shabazz was the star of the tournament, and as a result he was the center of the sports universe for a few minutes last night. He was onstage, receiving the championship trophy along with his teammates, and of course the trophy for his individual honor.

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CBS has a tradition for closing their coverage of this tournament. For 28 years now, they have ended their telecast with a montage of highlights set to the music of David Barrett's song, One Shining Moment.

It's appropriate, because for these young men, and for Napier in particular, it was a moment to remember. One where the world focused on them, giving them accolades for their very significant accomplishment.

As the TV screen's glow was fading last night, I picked up my Kindle to read for a few minutes before going to bed. I was astounded to come across a passage in the book I was reading that referred to the concept of the one shining moment. To me, that was no coincidence, but something that God had for me to learn that very night.

Here is the passage from RC Sproul's Everyone's a Theologian:

God's incommunicable attributes point to the way in which God is different from us and the way in which He transcends us. (They) reveal why we owe Him glory, honor, and praise. We stand up and give accolades to people who excel for a moment and then are heard no more, and yet the One who has the very power of being in and of Himself eternally, upon which every one of us is absolutely dependent and to whom we owe our everlasting gratitude for every breath of air that we take, does not receive the honor and glory from His creatures that He so richly deserves.

No, that was no coincidence. I was highly impressed with the Huskies and with Napier last night. They played some awesome basketball. And I should be; Sproul is not saying that we should minimize the accomplishments of men and women.

Not at all. But what he is saying is that God is so magnificent, so awesome, that he deserves every last drop of applause, praise, honor, and glory that we can give him. And then some. Far from minimizing what I saw on TV last night, it actually makes it more special.

How so? I think it means that when I see someone have their one shining moment, I can make it be a reminder to praise the One who has one shining eternity. The moment seeing a football champion honored, a great musician on stage, a masterful piece of art, a poignant moment in a stage play or musical…all those can point to the one who created it all. This is how I can enjoy the things I enjoy on earth without worshipping the creation - by letting them point me to the Creator.

One shining moment indeed. Congratulations, Huskies. Congratulations, Shabazz Napier.

And glory to God.

A glimpse of glory

Last Saturday night I was doing one of my favorite things. Yeah, you know. I was sitting in Bryant Denny Stadium watching the first Alabama home game of the season. It was a long-awaited night and I was soaking in every moment. The excitement, the colors, the traditions, and the energy of over 100,000 Bama fans packing the place.

It was the end of a dreary day weather-wise, but it didn't matter to us. Rain, rain, and more rain had given way to a cloudy late afternoon, and pretty comfortable temperatures. And then, early in the second quarter, the sun broke through. Broke through right as it was about to set, and the view above the stadium walls was spectacular.

From my seat

And even better, a panoramic view borrowed from my niece Haley

Wow!

At that moment, I forgot why I was there for just a moment. I was overwhelmed with the majesty of God's creation, and how he had taken just that moment to paint a spectacular picture for us. Yes, at that moment God provided us with a reminder of his glory. But even more, I marveled as I thought of the fact that creation itself was praising the Creator. As it says in the 19th Psalm, "The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge."

We usually think of praise as something that comes from the lips of humans. We  sing, we read, we pray...we praise. But the Scriptures are filled with this message: All of creation is designed to bring glory to God, and to praise him by its very existence.*

And so it was at that moment, and it was noticed throughout the stadium I don't know how many pictures I saw on Facebook from those who stopped watching football - for just a moment - to notice how the heavens were declaring the glory of God.

And then we got back to football. The Crimson Tide sleepwalked to a 31-6 victory over Colorado State. And it was fun. But the thing I'll remember most about that night was the magnificent intermission, when we saw God's glory through a stunning painting in the sky.

Thank you, Lord.

* - For a more detailed discussion, see Chapter 5 of NT Wright's The Case for the Psalms: Why They are Essential.

Perfect

We were about to descend into Houston. The flight from Atlanta was going headlong into the western sky, and the view was spectacular. Wispy clouds in all sorts of formations. A bright orange sky with all sorts of shades - a sunset you can only see from 30.000 feet. Street lights beginning to glow in the darkness below.

And as I looked out at it, I was listening to Ellie Holcomb's song My Heart is Steadfast, based on Psalm 108:

For Thy lovingkindness is great above the heavens,
Thy truth, it reaches to the sky.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens,
And Thy glory over all the earth....

I got chills as I looked at the glory of God's creation while listening to Psalms set to music. This was a good a glimpse of God's glory as we humans can comprehend...if we'll just stop to notice.

So there was God's glory in nature. In music. And at the same time, in the enjoyment of the life he has blessed me with. For the purpose of this flight was to go to tomorrow's Bama game in College Station, Texas, and I am blessed once again to travel with two marvelous young ladies - my nieces Haley and Macy. They are no longer college students, and it's cool - after starting our road game traditions when they were 12 - to travel with them as young adults. We are not guaranteed tomorrow, so I want to soak in every moment of these trips.

God's glory in nature, music, his word, and relationships. What a perfect day.

Good night.