“HE SHOOTS…HE SCORES!!!!”

“HE SHOOTS….HE SCORES!!!!!!” I hear on the radio as I drive the semi down the road, grinning from ear to ear, knowing that my team has just tied up the score with about 2 minutes left to play. Surely I like the chances of sending this Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Series into overtime, I think to myself. We’ve been real good this year, especially in the playoffs in overt…”HE SHOOTS – HE SCORES!!!!”

“YES! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT! WE WON THE STANLEY CUP!!! AHHHHHHH!!!!!”, I shout to no one in the truck on the long empty road, 17 seconds after the tying goal, holding the wheel in my left hand, fist pumping with my right. Chills go up and down my back. I recalled the same feeling I had just several years back, in 2010, when they won it then as well. I couldn’t have been prouder of “my guys”. As I quickly reflected of the adversity they overcame this year, tears of joy, tears of accomplishment, tears of WE DID IT took to my eyes.

As John and Troy from WGN Radio painted the perfect picture with their words of each Hawks member getting his chance to hoist the prize cup over his head, I glanced up at the heavens and thanked my God. Not for the win. Not for the prize either. No, I thanked Him for allowing me to experience just a small foreshadow of the feeling of celebration, the chills, the goose bumps, the strong desire to shout and yell, the fist pumping, the joy, and accomplishment.

I say foreshadow because that is what it is. See, what God showed me last night after my team won, was that I am on a team myself. Team Jesus. And there is coming a day when I too will feel those feelings again. But so much more! For my Lord will come again. He will put an end to sin and suffering. The righteous will receive their rewards…and the wicked will as well. He will cast His enemies from His sight, and mine. No longer will I be persecuted. I will witness His glorious power…power never seen before except from when He spoke the world into existence!

Go ahead, tell me that doesn’t give you chills….goose bumps….make you want to shout Hallelujah! Pump your fist in the air!!

Really, if you can’t tell me that doesn’t make you want to celebrate…well…maybe you’re on the wrong team.