Yesterday Spiderman swung to the rescue of an Autistic boy in Thailand who refused to let anyone else come near him. The boy was scared of his first day of school, so he walked out onto a balcony ledge and sat down, dangling his feet over the ledge.

When he wouldn’t let anyone get to him, a Thai police officer found out that the boy liked Spiderman, so he found a costume, dressed up in it, and saved the kid’s life.

I got some problems that require a superhero. I wonder if he’s available? Probably not. I better call on God!

Yes, I’m a College basketball junkie. This is my time of the year. Watching college hoops is better, purer, than watching the pros–butt that’s just me.

I was up late last night catching one of the late games in the tournament to see the end of a story that began two years ago.

The game came down to the final shot last night, sometime after 12:00 pm. Virginia Commonwealth University was trying to knock of UCLA. VCU is no college hoops powerhouse, but UCLA. The VCU Rams made their bones a couple of years back by knocking off Duke in one of the stunning moments in the NCAA Tournament.

Fast forward a couple of years and they were poised to do it again, and the guy who made the big shot to win the Duke game was on the court. Eric Maynor’s his name (with the ball, above), and he’s got big-time game. The slender point guard weaved his way through the UCLA defense, refusing to let his time quit when the Bruins were ahead by several points with minutes to go. The Rams cut the lead to 1, with 13 seconds to go.

They inbounded the ball and gave it to Eric Maynor. All the fans in the Philadelphia arena stood on their feet, waiting to see what magic Maynor would pull out of his bag of tricks. He drove left around a pick, away from two defenders, and pulled up for a midrange jumper with no time left on the clock.

He missed.

The guy who had made countless big shots in big games finally missed one. It would be the last shot of a great NCAA career, for Eric Maynor was a senior. After he missed the shot, he bowed his head for a moment, then walked off the court. His teammates rushed to his side to console him and to let him know how much he had meant to their team. Coaches bear-hugged him. No momentary failure was going to eclipse all that Maynor had done during his college career at VCU.

What I liked most about the game between VCU and UCLA was not the amazing passes, great shots, or rim-rattling dunks. What I liked most was the way in which Eric Maynor handled the loss. He walked to the team line to shake hand with the UCLA team that had just ended his career. He embraced each player, wished them the best in the tournament, and walked off the court.

Sometimes it’s not the wins that define you. It’s how you take the losses that count the most. Eric Maynor will always be a winner, because of his attitude.

Today I’m sitting in the airport waiting for a flight. The Alive Youth Rally in Spartanburg, SC just wrapped up and words really can’t do justice to what happened there.

I was asked to be the speaker, and usually when I have to speak for youth events, I get really nervous, but this time I was unusually calm. From the time I accepted this invitation, there was a certain peace about the whole thing, and once I got to the event site, I understood why.

The rally was sponsored by the Spartanburg Seventh-Day Adventist Church in South Carolina. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a church pull together so strongly for it’s youth. Some members prayed for the kids, other members served in the kitchen to make sure all the kids were fed. Some members donated their time to serve as Chaperones. I had never seen love for young people expressed like I saw it expressed this weekend. You really could feel  it. The rally drew more than 200 kids from around SC, and Pastor Stanley Knight, the Carolina Conference youth director, supported the youth with his presence and his love.

On Friday night I spoke about Peter, the disciple most likely to stick his foot in his mouth. Peter didn’t know who he really was, but after denying Jesus and being forgiven, he found his true identity. That night, more than 75 kids responded to the appeal. I was totally blown away by what I saw God doing.

On Sabbath I talked about the demon-possessed man in Mark 5. This guy had thousands of demons living in him.  Satan had literally stolen his identity and used his body to house thousands of demons. But when his situation seemed hopeless, Jesus showed up, and gave him back his identity and a new life. I asked people to come forward who wanted to give up the things that were preventing them from living out their true identity in Jesus. Again, the response was unreal. More people–teens and adults–responded to God’s call than did the night before. But, wait, there’s more.

For the final service, I felt impressed by God to do an anointing service. Who does that anymore, right? Well, I do. If you ask God to remove things from your life, you better ask him to fill you up with His Spirit.  We can never become who we were created to be with God’s Holy Spirit working on the inside of us.  The Holy Spirit brings Jesus into our lives and transforms us into God’s image. I asked a few of the leaders to join me in prayer over this, and then we began. After a brief message, I opened the appeal, asking anyone who wanted to come forward to be anointed–to be filled with God’s Holy Spirit–to come forward. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I decided to do what God had told me to do.

The response was unbelievable. It seemed like everyone in the building that night came to be anointed, both kids and adults. It truly was stunning to see. Even after the meeting had ended, people were still coming forward to be anointed. I anointed three ladies today who wanted God to fill them with His Holy Spirit.

I thank God for the vision that he gave Pastor Ryan Hogins and brother Kevin Watson, the youth leader at Spartanburg. I really believe it was their hard work, and the work of their team of volunteers, that made the harvest possible.

I  saw God at work this weekend, and I’ll never be the same again.

Difference. The quality or distinction of being unlike or dissimilar. That’s the benign dictionary definition of one of most powerful words in the English language.

Whether we know it or not, our world runs on differences. For instance, on a planet where land masses are connected, we humans have fought wars to form countries with bright lines that separate one from the other. We get stoked about Apple’s IPhone versus all others.  Why? The IPhone is “different,” right? We can’t really watch the Super Bowl wishing both teams well. We have to choose sides because while both are great teams which deserve to win, the two are, well, “different.” It’s Cardinals vs. Steelers–not football team vs. football team. Each team has it’s own story, it’s own fanbase, it’s own identity. We must choose one or the other.

When God created differences, He had something else in mind. It’s hard to read Genesis 1-3 (the creation story) and then look at a National Geographic special on Lions verses Antelope, or something crazy like that. Somehow I can’t see God smiling at the sight of a pride of lions chomping on a hopeless antelope. This is closer to what God had in mind: “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together;  and a little child will lead them” (Isaiah 11:6). Believe it or not, Isaiah’s picture of peace and harmony is coming soon to a world near you.

Why all the fuss about differences in this blog? Because I just saw this video. It’s kinda tough to watch, isn’t it?

Differences among human beings are supposed to be celebrated. But, sadly, we humans often look down on those who are different than us. What’s happening to Tanzania’s albinos is extreme, and easy for us who live in America to dismiss, but are we that much different? How do we treat the poor on our streets, the mentally ill? Heck, how do we treat people who are not a part of our “race” or social class? No, we don’t cut off hands and feet; we just cut them off altogether. Not all of us, for sure, but way too many of us do.

There will always be differences among human beings. The question is: Will there always be people who love each other, in spite of those differences?

Something seemed different about her the past few weeks. She was usually upbeat and funny, but she had changed. I picked up on it a time or two, but dismissed it as the usual teenage drama. I remember when I was a teen–way back in the stone age. One day I would be cool with you and the next I didn’t know you. Looking back now, I owe several really nice adults an apology–starting with my parents.

An adult friend of Mary, the teenager mentioned above, pulled me aside and told me what was going on with her. She was having problems at home–big problems. Mary’s mother didn’t approve of her coming to our church and getting involved in the services and teen activities. As Mary would later tell me, “My Mom always tells me to do positive stuff, to do something positive with my life. But now that I am, she hates me!” To be quite honest, her raw emotion caught me a little off guard. She really wanted to talk, so I just listened.

“There have always been problems in my family,” she continued softly with her face draped in sadness, “because me and my oldest sister have a different father from my younger brothers and sisters. My mom has a problem with us because she hates our father and she kinda takes it out on us. I can’t do nothing right for her. When she and her current husband go out, they take the others and leave us.” Mary’s hurt was palpable. You could feel it just sitting close to her. She wasn’t done, either. She started to break down the issue that’s really gotten her in deep drama with her Mama.

“I like coming to this church. My family goes to another church, but I don’t feel welcome there. When I come here, I feel welcome. People here don’t look at you funny, if they haven’t seen you for awhile, or if you’re struggling with something. The people here are not all decked out in jewelry and stuff. Everything’s just on point here, and I like that. It’s different here.”

I’ve been in youth ministry for a minute now, and I’ve never heard a teen make a statement like that about church–especially the church I attend. While some people have all kinds of problems with our church–all churches have problems–Mary had found something good, and she was willing to do whatever it took keep on coming. Her mother told her that if she kept coming to our church, she would kicked her out of the house. Yet, the next week, there was Mary–albeit, a bit sad. At 17, she had decided to take a stand. Nothing was going to stop her from getting to the place where she could meet God.

Mary is a lot like another woman in the Bible. You’ll find her in St. Matthew’s gospel, chapter 15, verses 21-28. She had a real serious problem. She was a Gentile (a non-Jew) and her daughter was demon-possessed. Can you say, uh, problems? “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David!” she cried to Jesus. But the very next verse says, “He answered her not a word” (verse 23). Now that’s a “diss.”

Hadn’t Jesus come to help messed up people? Yep, but wait. The story gets weirder. When Jesus did speak to her, He told her that he had been sent to find and save the lost sheep from the house of Israel. Translation? His mission was first to get the Jewish nation back on track (Matt.10:5,6). It wasn’t that Jesus hated other people. God had made a covenant with Abraham and his descendants who were called Jews, and Jesus was sent to re-establish that covenant first. In the process of doing so–through his life, death, resurrection, and ascension to heaven–he would save all people. But, Jesus first appeal was to the lost Jews.

Turning to the woman, Jesus leveled another harsh saying. “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs” (verse 26). OUCH! The woman was unfased by Jesus’ words, though. “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master’s table!” (Verse 27). Her daughter was sick, and she wasn’t about to let Jesus off the hook that easy. Jesus then said, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire” (verse 28). She was willing to take whatever help Jesus could give, the crumbs of blessing that feel from the Master’s table. She had to help her!

Sometimes it’s tough to get to God, and even when we get there we don’t always like the answers or non-answers we get. Like my friend Mary, and the widow in Matthew, don’t let that throw you off the trail. Keep on pressing until God hears your prayers and answers them. What might seem to you at the time like a God diss may only be a test of your faith.

My friend Mary is caught in a difficult situation, but she believes that if she keeps pouring out her heart to God, that if she keeps pressing her way into His presence, her situation will change. She’s refuses to give up her faith in God. Don’t you give yours up either.

As grizzly stories go, this one was pretty bad. On October 5 authorities in San Bernadino, CA discovered that an unemployed father of three had murdered his entire family because he was upset over the state of his finances. He methodically shot his wife, three sons, and his mother-in-law before turning the gun on himself. It was a sad ending to several beautiful lives.

The father, Karthik Rajaram, left two suicide notes and a will. In the notes he described the financial pressure he was under because he had lost his job. Although the family lived in a gorgeous gated community in the foothills of the Santa Susanna mountains, they didn’t own the house. All that glittered wasn’t gold.

In the suicide notes, the father felt that things had gotten so bad that he was left with only two choices. He could kill himself, in which case his family would suffer emotionally–because of his loss–and financially, because he was the only person who worked in the home. Choice number 2: Kill everyone, including himself. That way, no one suffers. Somehow, the financial box he was in had stolen every other choice from him, save two.

It’s easy to dismiss this guy as nut-job who should’ve known that he had more options than to kill himself or his family. But if you live long enough, circumstances in life just might put you in a place where you can see only few options. I haven’t been around that long, but I’ve been there a few times.

Several years ago I remember being profiled and stopped by a police officer who proceeded to rip out the dashboard of my car in search of drugs. I had been married less than a week and my new bride was with me. He patted me down and started moving to do the same to her when I said to him like, “You’re not gonna touch my wife.” He called for back-up and few more officers came, including a female who checked my wife. I felt more powerless that night than I had at any point in my life before. He had no right to stop us. He embarrassed us, just because he could. That night I felt like I had one choice, and that was to hunt down that officer and kill him. I’m ashamed to say it, but that’s how I felt.

Even though I felt like doing the unthinkable, I knew I had other options. I knew even then that my “struggle [was] not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12). Translation? The stuff that happened to me had a lot to do with an evil force led by Satan, bent on doing me harm (1 Peter 5:8).

If Satan can make you feel totally hopeless and powerless to change your situation, he’s got you right where he wants you. Then, he can streamline your choices and push you in the direction of making the wrong one. But I’ve got some bad news for him, which is great news for you and me. God is so into powerlessness!

In 2 Corinthians 12:10 Paul, a servant of Jesus, wrote: “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” Wait, did this guy just say that he “delights” in trials? Only fools do that, right? When you read 2 Corinthians 12 altogether, you discover that this guy had a really bad problem that he begged God to take from his life, but God refused. Instead, God told Him “My grace is sufficient (enough) for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (verse 5).

God was telling Paul, bring the problem to Me. I’ll help you deal with it, because I’m much stronger than you. You can try to fix it yourself, but it wont work. You have another choice, and that’s to let me help you. Paul got so good at handing over his problems to God that he took pleasure in doing so. He (delighted) in the process. Why? Because He had faith that God would see him through.

Do you feel caught? Are you running out of options? Tell God about your problem, ask for His help, and then trust Him.

And so I begin this mad dash to find God. I grew up knowing God. My Pops was a pastor for many years, church administrator for many more. I feel like I know all there is to know about church. Of course, I don’t, but it sure feels that way.

I know a lot about spiritual things, but I’m not all that spiritual. I have a decent grasp of the Bible, but I’m not exactly intimate with God. Know what I mean? I got all the theory down, but I’m finding out that theory is worthless. Until I experience God for myself, until He and I become one, this whole religion thing is a sham.

And so I begin this mad dash to find God. I’m going after Him 24-7-365, until I find out what He’s all about. I start today.