The Road to J. O. Y.Намуна

Gain Faith While Losing the World

When you regularly pursue God, it’s important to stop and see the ways He is speaking and moving in your life, even if the ultimate outcome isn’t yet what you’ve hoped for.

Even though we were picked to finish tenth in the Big 12 pre-season coaches’ poll, we liked our team and felt that, after making the NCAA tournament in 2008 and then the NIT Finals in 2009, we had a chance to take the next step as a program.

Being picked to finish so low in the conference only added fuel and motivation to our players. At the end of the regular season, we were 11–5 in the conference, good enough to tie for the second-best record in the league. So much for those coaches’ predictions.

We lost in the semifinals of the Big 12 tournament, but we knew we would make March Madness. We earned a 3 seed. We were playing Sam Houston State, it was close. They actually led in the second half, and we were tied with three minutes to go. We won by nine. Six years earlier we had celebrated winning one conference game. Now we had won our first NCAA tournament game in six decades.

Our team was hitting its stride. We were in the Elite 8, one win away from a Final Four appearance. Standing in our way was Duke.

We actually played the game in Houston, so we felt like we had something of a home-court advantage, at least geographically. Then when our bus arrived at Reliant Stadium, we knew we would have the advantage in terms of support too. Baylor Nation turned out!

For the first time, it felt as though Baylor basketball had arrived. And we wanted to give them something to cheer for.

We were up two with four minutes to go. From there, Duke outscored us 15–3 over the next three and a half minutes. The game was over.

We had become aware of some allegations that the NCAA was investigating regarding our recruiting practices. The investigation would eventually span three years.

You couldn’t talk about it at all because if you do share any information, you can get in more trouble with the NCAA. So, really, Kelly became the only person I could talk to about what was happening. Even at church, the only thing I could really say was that I would appreciate prayer, but I couldn’t share what I was asking others to pray for.

Luckily, Kelly is a spiritual rock. Looking back, she would say now that the time of the investigation made our marriage stronger because it forced us to rely on God and each other.

Sometimes, the things we think are standing in our way are actually pushing us toward God’s desires for our lives. If you find yourself in a similar situation, try to think that God has given you exactly what you need to endure and manage the challenge you’re facing.

For me, God gave me Kelly.

When the 2011–2012 season was starting, the NCAA investigation was still looming over us and in May 2011 my father had announced his retirement. Four months later, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Anytime you hear the word “cancer” with a parent, your heart skips. I trusted God, but that didn’t make hearing my father was sick any easier to take. Three days later, it got worse. My mother, Janet, was diagnosed with stage 3 bladder cancer.

It’s any person’s nightmare. But it did give me a front-row seat to what faith in action can look like.

“It was obviously a shock, like a knife in the back,” my father would say later. But after asking questions like “Why us?” my parents turned to their faith. “Janet is the rock, the foundation of our family, and she’s very strong in her faith,” my dad told the local newspaper when they ran a story on the diagnosis. “We knew this was God’s will and He had a plan, so we prayed about it and prepared to fight it together.”

Trusting in God isn’t always easy. When a loved one is sick, it’s never harder. But that doesn’t mean God is any less in control.

My parents were lucky to have early detection and excellent medical care. My father was declared cancer-free after having surgery. My mother didn’t have it as easy. She had to go through chemotherapy and radiation treatments during our season that fall. But by the time the NCAA tournament rolled around, she, too, was cancer-free.

We started the season 13–0 and never really let up.

We won twelve conference games for the first time in school history and were ranked as high as No. 3 in the country. We made it to the Big 12 championship game before losing to Missouri and earned another 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. We lost to Kentucky, who went on to win the national championship. Again we lost to the eventual champs in the Elite 8.

Being that close to every coach’s dream of making a Final Four, only to fall one loss short in two of three years, was incredibly humbling. I wondered if God would ever give me, and our team, that blessing.

Luckily, remembering Philippians 4:6 to “be anxious for nothing” (NKJV) helped keep things in perspective. Yes, we’d come up short of a Final Four, but look what God had done! It can be tempting to focus on the things God hasn’t done in our lives. But doing so keeps our eyes in the wrong place. Look instead at what He has done. Celebrate that. By doing so, you experience the fullness God wants for all of us.

It’s amazing how sometimes God can use the things we want least in life to help us the most.

Respond

What are you anxious about today?

Write a brief prayer asking Jesus to be in control of the situation.

Prayer

Lord, I trust You in everything. May I especially feel Your presence and peace today!