Hail To the Underdog by Hank

Buford had said that this was the last straw; no lunch money today equals a pounding. The boy shuffled his feet at the sound of the last bell. He was in no hurry to exit the school. Because Buford Swinderski and his toadies would be waiting behind the corner of the old pump shed, past the bus stop where the monitors couldn’t see.  The light felt dead to him as he exited out the door into the crisp fall day. Ordinarily he would be happy for school to be over but…not today. No more days like this, he would miss life. He slowly walked face down past the bus stop, towards his home which took him right past the pump shed, paying no mind to the people wishing him a good day, telling him we’ll see you tomorrow; because there was no tomorrow anymore. Then he heard the voice he had been dreading to hear and the cackles of his three little followers. “So, LOOSER! Got my lunch money yet, or am I gonna hafta pound ya?”…

We have this love affair with stories of the underdog and it’s not hard to see why. The underdog is an every man. We see ourselves in his or her struggle. While the underdog’s face and circumstances have changed, his fight remains the same; to overcome the unthinkable odds and wind up the victor.  Countless books, movies and songs have told all of these tales. The last picked at the baseball team who wins the game, the lone soldier who manages to fight his way out to be with his family, the sinner who loses it all only to find the Lord and turn it around. These are awesome stories.  We can see ourselves in our own story winning over long odds, so when times get tough we love to know it could all be okay in the end.

God has a thing with underdogs too; he really loves the long shots. The fact of the matter is, he almost always chooses them first. The Bible is chock full of underdogs who win big in the end. Moses was a murderer who stuttered. Joseph was a daddy’s boy who became a prisoner. Rahab was a harlot. David was the smallest and weakest of his brothers. Gideon was a no experience general with a puny army. Matthew was a tax collector, and really even then no one liked those guys…See the reason that God chooses the underdog is simply this; God’s strength is evident in the life of those weak without him. It apparent that it’s God working when you know it’s not in your power to do these things. When the doctor’s diagnose cancer, the mass disappears astonishingly; we all know it’s a miracle by God.

Remember this: God always is on your side. You may be the underdog, but God has called you a conqueror. Maybe the end of the tunnel seems a long way off, maybe your gas tank is on fumes; it doesn’t matter because the harder it will be to make it to the finish, the more it will be evident that it was God who brought you through. Some of the best miracles come from the worst desperation.

The boy said nothing but stood his ground. “Well?!?” Buford bellowed. The boy closed his eyes and said “Stop bulling me.” Buford laughed, “Your funeral kid! Ain’t no one gonna save you now, no momma, no monitor…”Buford took a step towards the boy. He felt the ground shake, his hands were sweaty. So this was how it feels to die. “Jesus…please!” the boy whispered. He heard a shuffle and then a loud thud. He opened his eyes and found his would be attacker on the ground holding his chin. It seemed Buford tripped and fell! His eyes filling with tears, Buford picked himself up and ran holding his bloody chin and trying hard to look cool. Without Buford, the toadies were sort of lost; they looked at each other and slowly walked away. The boy could not believe it he had achieved a victory of standing up to his fear, and God took care of the rest.