we are only half way through the first round of the 2010 ncaa tournament;
almost 5,000,000 people filled out a bracket on espn.com (4.7+ million to be more accurate);
57 people still have a perfect bracket.
this equates to .00114%
or 1 out of every 87,719 people getting the first half of the first round correct.
there are six rounds.
dick vitale, “the dude of college basketball,” got 8 out of 16 games correct…
50%.
this is his job…and a person could have flipped a coin for equal probability.
in fact, my brother set up a bracket where he flipped a coin for every game:
it is in the top 3.1% of those 5M filled out brackets,
correctly “picking” 12 of the 16 games played yesterday.
ok, i think my point can now be made.
we live like we know what tomorrow will bring
we make decisions based of off our own understanding
we are still convinced this is the best way
we are so temporary & immediate in our feeble ways of thinking that even with the clear & many examples of our blatant inability to actually know what the future holds for us, we rely on our thoughts.
think about a year ago today, would you have been even close to guessing where you actually are today?
i would be way off.
yet i still think about where i’m going to be in a year and use those thoughts to form my decisions today.
i know that God uses that thought process for His good,
but He also gives us pretty clear warning against this:
13Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. 17Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.
james 4:13-17
i got some good & bad news for you-i just presented what you “ought to do”,
and now if you don’t follow it (and do believe in Jesus as your King), you are sinning.
if you don’t believe in Jesus as Savior, believe me you aren’t getting a free pass at the end of the day.
i didn’t say it – don’t take it out on the messenger – check the Word.
we have no idea what tomorrow will bring.
let’s start living this reality out…
i know it is “extreme” and very counter to what our flesh and society encourages
(heck it is everything that we know to do before we know Jesus),
but let’s strive to make it part of who we are,
to make it as normal to go to God before all things
as it is now for a non-believer to rely on themselves.
how can we most effectively begin to grasp this concept that is a seemingly inherent quality?
is this just nuts?
here’s the update of a group that i am in after day 1 of the tourney:
1. CoinFlipper1* – 120 pts
2. Stacedogg – 110 pts
2. Noellekittycat – 110 pts
2. DPMIII – 110 pts
5. BigCatJLO – 100 pts
5. Marla – 100 pts
5. SamuelMiles – 100 pts
8. LtLo – 90 pts
8. CoinFlipper2* – 90 pts
8. CavieMomma – 90 pts
11. Ronaldo – 80 pts
12. AshMoLo – 70 pts
12. BofeUnit – 70 pts
*CoinFlipper1 was a coin flip for every game.
*CoinFlipper2 was the top seed winning the first round & a coin flip for the remaining games.
ltlo