We Have Won

I’ll let you in on a little secret. It’s not hard to make fun of me. I frequently set myself up for stuff. It’s completely unintentional. There’s another secret too. I’m a loser, and I’m serious. Allow my college ‘Settlers of Catan’ record of  0-72 testify to that. Of all of the hundreds and hundreds of games that I played in college, the only one that I can remember a victory on was entitled “Ticket to Ride”. You build trains and connect roads, but it’s so much cooler than that. If you’ve never played, trust me, it’s life changing. An overarching theme of my life is games. I love games, guys. I just love games. [not games with guys…not same-same…]

Our team has taken up a new hobby to playing Cribbage. If you’ve never heard of it, you should know that it’s a card game. If you have heard of it, you automatically think “oh, that’s an old-person card game.” If that’s the way you think… Team Harbin is a fan of the elderly, then. It’s super cool. Due to the high amount of playing time that has recently been logged, we’ve recently gotten into the habit of “trash-talking.” Some team members are really good at it. Others…well, I’m the only one who is bad at it. I’m really not the biggest fan of being intentionally mean to anyone, game or not. In fact, I’m frequently teased because my gaming philosophy is that we are all on the same team, and therefore everyone is a winner. This is continually a point that I am made fun of for, especially being that my record isn’t the hottest thing under the sun. Actually, if you are to look at the mathematical proportions of "games played" verses "victories accomplished", my record is really quite pathetic. And it's not that I don't go down without a fight. It's always that I'm just out of reach. What a life to live; always just out of reach of victory. Almost successful, almost proving yourself.

However, the other day for all of 30 minutes there was a slight shift in the universe in which I happened to cross the finish line before my tall, male opponent (What? I’m not naming any names, Michael!). Funny how quickly my philosophy of “everyone is a winner” was quickly adapted and looked upon as truth when the tables were turned. I say this because it makes me smile and it’s a fresh reminder that life, although a really big deal in the grand scheme of things, can’t be taken too seriously.

I also say this because  I have a new favorite worship song. I'm still perplexed at how in all my years and background of music and worship experience this song has never seemed to cross my path. Now that I have it, I gotta tell the world so that no one else experiences the atrocity that happened to me.  I promise you that it’s totally worth the $1.29 on iTunes. It's the same price on Amazon. It’s one of those that send shivers through your body, that you can’t help but seeing bursts of white light and the Glory of our Father. You know, you might as well buy the whole album. No really, just do it, you won't regret it. The specific song I'm talking about is the title track, number 15. The chorus of the piece sings like this:

“Hallelujah we’re redeemed and made free 

by the blood of the Lamb we have won

Hallelujah we will sing victory, 

J---s conquered the grave, G-- be praised.”

And I know it’s silly, but for someone like me who is a loser by blood, I can victoriously claim with all of my heart and soul that “we have won”. Those are incredibly heavy and victorious words, especially in regards to the Eternal Victory. Whoooo hooo buddy!