When the NCAA tournament is being played out again before our eyes on national television, it is very exciting. We love it when the underdog fights and wins. We love the upset. Have you ever asked yourself why?

It is because we feel that we are up against Goliath in our own lives. This is not what the Bible is saying. This is not the way that David saw himself when he took Goliath's challenge. He saw the victory before he began to gather the stones for his slingshot. He saw the end from the beginning.

As long as we see ourselves as the underdog, we will make decisions from the wrong position. We are in the royal family with all of the authority and the power that we could ever need. (And don't forget that when we love the underdog, we pull against the stronger one and that creates animosity between us and the true champions.)

A Childhood Experience
I could feel the cold wall behind my back, the row of toilets to my left and the row of urinals to my right. There was no place to go. I couldn't understand why this teacher was so angry with me.

He was my coach and my sixth grade teacher and he was frustrated and disappointed. I didn't understand. Sure, I had been in a fight, but the bully was smacking around a friend of mine, a tiny boy who seemed to be overloaded with books and pushing his glasses back up his nose all the time.

The bully was a neighbor of mine and he struggled in school. When he was irked he would lash out, and this time I thought he was wrong.

When I reacted to young David's attack and little Mike Flynn, I felt like the underdog hurling myself into the lion's jaws. We had all grown up in fear of this older bigger boy who had been kept back and raised with us.

But my teacher didn't see it that way. He saw one of his best athletes attacking a struggling boy with low self-esteem and in his mind I was the bully and David was no match for me.

And as it turned out, he was right. My athletic training took me to a quick tackle and a quick victory in the short fight, which ended with my punishment in the bathroom. I will never forget the lecture I received from Mr. Carlson that day.

"Dan, you are not to use your strength to hurt someone else, no matter how right you are. Do you hear me? You are not to lose your temper, no matter how much you are hurt. You are not to make excuses and act like everybody else. Your instincts and your purpose were correct but your actions and reactions were wrong and that is why you are being punished. Do you understand me?"

He was screaming and I didn't understand why he was so angry, then. "You are a leader and you have responsibilities to me and to all the rest of these kids. They look up to you whether they tell you or not. You set the tone. And because of this the punishments that will come your way must be harsher. Your mother understands this and so must you. Now don't you ever raise your hands when you can step in and use just words. Don't ever use your tongue, when you can use a hug. David is a friend of yours and he feels betrayed. He doesn't understand why you took sides. Now sit there and think about it."

I don't remember whether he spanked me or hit me but his words of disappointment and frustration were about as much as I could bear. I slid to the floor and tried to understand. It didn't all sink in then but it still resonates in my brain.

How God Sees Us
Today as I study the scripture, and minister the gospel of Jesus Christ, I realize that God doesn't see us as weak or as underdogs, even though sometimes we do. He sees us as leaders and gifted with gifts we have yet to understand or unwrap.

"We have been seated in heavenly places." "We've been made more than conquerors." And when we react to the world in a way that doesn't acknowledge our strength and superior positioning we are wrong and not the bully or the terrorist. We are victorious and we are the head and not the tail. In the end and in the middle we do win.

"Run your race. Do not run it just to participate, but run it to win." "Every runner that desires to win his race keeps his body trained through discipline and moderation." This is our quest and our privilege to know. "He that can rule his tongue can rule a city." "All things are possible to him who believes."

What is the premise that all these scriptures stem from? The premise is simple and it was displayed for us in the movie "The Passion of the Christ." It is that He won the ultimate victory over sin, death and hell. The victory is won for always.

We need to hold that in mind as we enter into any struggle or approach any obstacle. All of our need is met, through him. We can do all things, through Christ. It is through Christ that we will know the appropriate behavior. It is through Christ that we as conquerors, we as the strong will provide for the weak and set the tone.

In Christ and through Christ will our strengths be made stronger and not be turned into weakness, and in and through Christ will our weaknesses be covered and made strong.

"Know ye not that ye are the temple of the Holy Spirit." "Haven't you heard? Didn't you know that our God, creator of the heavens and the earth, doesn't grow weary nor does he slumber."

"The young men grow weak and the youth do fall, but they that wait upon the Lord, they that patiently wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall walk and not be weary, run and not faint, they will rise up on wings as eagles. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength."

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