Ok, I apologize in advance, but I cannot resist the temptation to celebrate. I know it's only basketball, but WOW! My alma mater, Abilene Christian University, a huge under-dog, defeated the mighty University of Texas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Even better, the game came down to this: with 1.2 seconds left to play, and Texas leading by one point, an ACU player, Joe Pleasant, was fouled, sending him to the free-throw line to take two shots to either win or lose the game. This is the stuff that the Tournament Directors' dreams are made of!

During the drama-building time-out before the free-throw shots were attempted, my wife said, "There's no pressure - he should make these shots."

Uhm, "no pressure"??

By "no pressure", I think she meant that there would not be any Texas players putting a hand in his face and trying to block the shots. True. But that hardly means there was no pressure on this young man at that moment - probably the biggest moment of his life. And, to ratchet up the drama even more, the game announcers let the audience know something that all of Joe Pleasant's team-mates and Coaches already knew that gave them anxiety, something that all the Texas players and Coaches already knew that gave them hope, and especially, something that Joe Pleasant himself already knew all too well that must have frozen his heart - that he was the worst free-throw shooter on the ACU team.

Can you sing it? "Pressure - pushing down on you, pressing down on me, no man ask for. Under pressure..." [Thank you David Bowie and Freddie Mercury.]

Of course, as you know, Joe Pleasant somehow made both free-throws, and then intercepted the last desperate pass by Texas to end the game, give ACU its very first win ever in the NCAA Tournament, and forever etch his name into ACU Sports history. And, as you can see, there has been MUCH rejoicing in the ACU community.

As previously stated, it's only basketball. As gut-wrenching as it must have been for Joe Pleasant to stand alone on the free-throw line, feeling his throat tighten and his mouth go dry, knowing that he held the fate of his team in his shaking, sweating hands, the likelihood is that he will face much sterner pressures after basketball and college comes to an end.

We all do. It's called "Life In The Real World". It's a dark and scary world out there most of the time, with much pressure being brought to bear on each of us - pressure to succeed, pressure to endure difficult circumstances, pressure to simply survive and provide for those who depend on us. It's easy to feel as alone under this pressure as Joe Pleasant felt at the free-throw line Saturday night.

In last week's "Hidden Treasures" online Bible class [which, once again, I urge you to take advantage of each week on The Tammany Oaks FB page], we learned that the pressure of life is not something new to the modern world. It's been around forever. When Jesus was on Earth, He was around people who were under pressure. Listen to the words from last week's lesson as they describe some of the pressures haunting the people of His time: "What if we don't have enough food? Or clothes? Or suppose we run out of money? What if there isn't enough? And everything goes wrong? And we won't be all right? What then?"

Sound familiar?

But listen to how Jesus responded: "When Jesus saw all the people, his heart was filled with love for them." And then He reminded them that God, "who loves to look after the birds and flowers, loves to look after you too. ...Even though people had forgotten, the birds and the flowers hadn't forgotten - they still knew their song. It was the song all of God's creation had sung to Him from the very beginning. It was the song people's hearts were made to sing: 'God made us. He loves us. He is very pleased with us.' It was why Jesus had come into the world: to sing them that wonderful song; to sing it not only with his voice, but with His whole life - so that God's children could remember it and join in and sing it too."

God never wanted His children to suffer from the pressure of "Life In The Real World". But, as we have pushed Him further from our lives in our strange and foolish efforts to "be free", the pressures of Life have mounted.

Has the pressure of "Life In The Real World" made you forget the song you were created to sing? Isn't it comforting to be reminded that the God of all Creation is actually completely in love with you? That He loves to look after you? That He is very pleased with you?

I pray that we will find relief from the pressure of Life in God's faithful love and care and presence. And I pray that we will all find our singing voices again.

Shepherd | Ambrose Ramsey