The Streak Is Over!

Our society is geared to celebrate winning. We salute the successful. We value the victorious. We cater to the conquerors. This attitude is especially evident in the world of athletics. Adoration is heaped upon those athletes who run the fastest, jump the highest, throw the farthest, and, above all, win consistently.

So it was with some interest that I read this week of a Connecticut high school girl’s basketball team that had become known for its losing rather than winning. The Oliver T. Wolcott Technical High Wildcats had not won a basketball game since February of 1990. You read that right – nearly 19 years of futility. Nearly two decades without the thrill of victory – only the agony of defeat. Then, what had become almost unimaginable finally happened. This past December, the Wildcats scored a 54-43 victory over Gilbert. After so long a period of losing, you might think that the team would forget how to celebrate a win. But such was not the case. The coach said, “Those girls were crying and jumping up and down and hugging. We put them back on the bus and they were singing” (Ray Giler, highschool.rivals.com, 3-23-09). The same article goes on to note the following: “The next day the Waterbury paper ran a headline, ‘The Streak Is Over’…The beatings resumed after Christmas against more formidable competition with Wolcott losing by 50 and 60 points. But the streak was over.”

The same headline would have been appropriate following the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. After centuries of human futility, the Savior dealt the decisive blow to Satan’s death grip on the human race. By the time the sun rose on the third day following the crucifixion, it could truthfully be said that, spiritually speaking, “The Streak Is Over!” Or, as Jesus Himself would say with His final words before dying: “It is finished!” (John 19:30). We can joyfully echo the words of the apostle Paul: “…thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57).

God loves you!
Mike