Victories for all!
Ok, maybe not victory for all… However victory for Ireland in their Six Nations Grandslam triumph!
Victory for Japan also. The sumo has also been on TV here, but the big sport has with out question been baseball. It is truely the national sport and that hasn’t come to the fore more than in the World Baseball Classic. When I was last in Japan they beat Cuba in the finals to become the first proper world baseball champions, then today (though technically on Monday in LA) they pipped Korea to the post in an extremely tight match to claim victory for the second time running… It has been such a big deal that people have been sneaking out of the office to go to the electronics store and watch the tvs, sneaking their tv-toting mobile phones under their desks and even watching it while driving along the highway on their GPS screens. My teacher spent the class this morning explaining some of the Japanese baseball terms and being nervous to find out whether Japan managed to pull it off.
And so it has been a lot of fun for me on both counts, Ireland’s long awaited 6 nations victory and Japan’s oh-so-close world baseball classic defence.
Then last night I went to play some football myself and enjoyed a (rare) night without loss, the teams I was on drew time and time again, then pulled a win out later in the evening, so I left with that feeling of victory and success.
That is the feeling we long for as Christians, we have tasted it over and over as we have hit those “mountain top” experiences. Feeling by proxy Christ’s glory as he stands in victory over sin and our fallenness.
Yet so often that feeling is taken away. Talking about football with my Japanese teacher earlier we talked about how the taste of defeat and failure can be so very bitter, particularly when used to coming out on top, and today Korea are left licking their wounds after almost taking the baseball trophy home for themselves. All of the other 6-Nations teams have gone home empty handed, not even the solace of a triple crown for their often outstanding performances.
Likewise as Christians we often feel overwhelmed by our own struggles with sin, or not seeing progress in our own walk or the work we are trying to do (a common problem for missionaries in Japan). Feeling defeated or ready to give up. Sometimes it is even worse as there is no often option to retreat and to back down. The fight feels unending and unwinnable.
But there is hope for us who believe. Christ won’t just bring us victory, but has already brought victory…
When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” ….. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
(1 Cor 15:54 & 57, ESV)
We can feel like Japan did today, or Ireland on Saturday, or me when my squiffy shot rebounded off Sam and went in to secure victory last night…
Tags: baseball, christ, football, ireland, japan, korea, rugby, six nations, sumo, triumph, victory, wbc, world baseball classic
