JESUS: the greater kobe

Every kid who has ever grown up in SoCal watched the Lakers. And when the Lakers played on the road, every kid watched it on KCAL9 (for those of us w/o cable, away games were the only thing we had haha). At dinner time, my family used to watch Stu Lantz & Co. commentate the games as Kobe and the Lakers battled it out on the other team's home court. Oh there were exciting games...where the Lakers and the opposing team seemed like they were tied throughout the whole night. Sometimes you never knew who would win. They would trade baskets--a fadeaway shot for a fadeaway shot, a block for a block, a dunk for a dunk, and a fastbreak for a fastbreak. It was a straight up battle!~ Who will win? But I already knew...

Haha here's the catch: KCAL9 was never in real-time. The away games in the East Coast were always recorded and then played back at dinner time in Los Angeles. So I would always check on espn.com to see who won that night (they had already played 3 hours ago), and then I would watch the game.  At times I would get so consumed by the game that I would totally forget the Lakers had already won earlier in the day.  But then I would remember. Even though some of the games got close, even when the Lakers looked hopelessly doomed to lose, I knew the final result already. I knew that in the end, the Lakers would pull it off. Some say that's no fun? Well, it was fun for me. :)

Recently I've been getting mad spiritually attacked. Sometimes I wonder, will God rescue me from this? Will I ever escape suffering? I feel so overwhelmed, I wonder if I will just end up giving up... just succumbing to sin. It's definitely a spiritual battle and it can be disheartening at times. Satan comes at me with full force: pride, anger, lust, apathy, you-name-it. But you know what comforts me? I already know I win. Because Jesus defeated Satan, sin, and death at the cross. So I cry out, "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the VICTORY through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." [1 Cor. 15:55-58]  So remember brothers and sisters, if you feel like you're being attacked, like there's no way out, nor any way for victory. Remember... we already have victory. In Christ. :) Never forget that.

p.s. - I used to try to trick my brother by betting him money on who would win (when I already knew the score). Hehehe. But dangit, he never fell for it...

"Come here," he said, "and I'll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!" David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give all of you into our hands." [1 Samuel 17:44-47]