All things are possible with God.”
Jesus
“In Northeast Ohio, nothing is given.
Everything is earned. You work for what you have.” Lebron
This has been an incredible year for
me. On June 9, I turned 60 years old. In celebration of my birth, the CAVS won
their first NBA championship ten days later. They were down three games to one
but found a way to win it all anyway. Less than three weeks after that, our
grandson Joseph was born. And the Indians have done their part by winning their
way into their first World Series since 1997. You would have to say that I am
on a roll.
When I was a younger man, I didn’t
believe that I would reach 60. I don’t think I was fatalistic but 60 seemed
impossibly old – an age for other people but not for me. And I also didn’t
think I would be a grandfather either. As I grew older and those things became
more likely, the chance that any Cleveland sports team might win a championship
in my lifetime seemed to become more remote. I witnessed in person “The Drive”
Game in January of 1987 when the Browns lost to the Bronco’s and have caught my
share of CAVS playoff games over the years. I have seen Lebron James arrive in
Cleveland, leave Cleveland, and return once again. Until June of 2016, I saw Cleveland
teams get close now and again but always come up short.
I accepted getting close
occasionally yet losing as part of the fabric of Northeast Ohio culture, and I
was ok with it. So I was as stunned as
anyone on the planet when the final seconds of the NBA championship game ran
out and the CAVS actually won. Like many Cleveland fans, I looked at the screen
expecting a late call, a disqualification, or Lucy pulling the football away
from a charging Charlie Brown. It just didn’t seem possible. The seeming
impossible actually happened.
I have been around long enough to
know that there are many more important things than professional sports teams.
Each week our prayer team lifts up people and situations that couldn’t be more
serious. A winning or losing sports team can seem pretty trivial. And I have
noticed that many of my daily concerns haven’t changed a whole lot since the
CAVS won, and my life is unlikely to be transformed by an Indians World Series
win either.
But
the success of these teams has made daily life in this part of the world just a
little bit sweeter. Just a bit.
When Lebron James was returning to
Cleveland a few years ago, he was quoted in Sports
Illustrated as saying: “In Northeast Ohio, nothing is given. Everything is
earned. You work for what you have.” It was his way of saying that winning a
championship was not guaranteed and was bound to be difficult to achieve. And
he was right.
The CAVS worked hard to win that
championship, but I didn’t do a thing except show up at a playoff game against
Toronto and yell until I was hoarse. We were so far away from the court that I
don’t think Lebron heard us.
So it is accurate to say that for me
– and for just about every Northeast Ohio resident – the championship could
only be described as a gift – a gift to us earned by the effort and
determination of others. I didn’t work for it. I didn’t earn it. Yet it was
given to me just the same.
There
is certainly a value to setting a goal and working towards it. We can achieve
many good things in life if we work hard enough. Yet some of the best things in
life cannot be earned no matter how much we try. We can only receive them as a
gift.
We
are offered the gift of salvation and the forgiveness of our sins, and there is
absolutely nothing we can do to earn it. No good works will suffice. Instead it
is the work of Jesus, his willingness to die for us on the cross, that earns
our freedom for us. We didn’t do anything to deserve it.
Even
at the advanced age of 60, I still have some things I am working for, but I am
so grateful for the blessings and gifts that have come into my life because of
the hard work and efforts of others. Family (including grandchildren), love,
and friends are among the best gifts that I have even received. I don’t deserve
them, but I cherish and savor them just the same.
The
Cubs haven’t won a World Series title in 108 years, and the Indians last won in
1948. Unless the World Series ends in a tie, one team’s fans will soon be
euphoric and the others disappointed. I hope that the gift of a World
Championship comes to Cleveland once again, but I can’t say that we deserve it
more than Cubs fans do. And I tend to think that God won’t intervene in the
outcome no matter how many prayers are lifted up by faithful fans.
But,
as I said before, I am on a roll. I have seen things this year I never thought
I would experience. And the year – and the baseball season – isn’t over just
yet. I am beginning to believe that just
about anything is possible.
