Something Special Happened
Have you ever had the sense that you were a part of something special?
I remember having this sense in 2013. I was a freshman at Samford University in Birmingham Alabama. Though I was enrolled at Samford, I loved Auburn; in particular the football team. I fell in love with Auburn football since my sister played volleyball there during the time of Cam Newton’s legendary Heisman trophy run and the team’s National Championship.
My freshman year, my sister who was in her last semester of grad school at Auburn got me tickets to the Iron Bowl. The Iron Bowl is arguably the greatest rivalry in college football between Auburn and Alabama. It was the last game of the regular season. The winner received bragging rights, a chance at the SEC Championship and presumably the National Championship. Auburn ranked fourth in the nation while Alabama was a 10 point favorite and the #1 team. This was the most anticipated game of the year and it did not disappoint. It was a back and forth duel that came down to the final seconds, in fact the final milliseconds. The game was tied 28-28. As time expired Alabama kicked a field goal to win the game and they missed, but the play didn’t stop. An Auburn player had caught the ball in bounds (which is legal, but very rare), running it back 100 yards the other way, winning the football game, sending the team to the SEC championship and eventually to the National Championship.
It was so special because it was so improbable! At the end of the play the CBS broadcaster exclaimed, “Chris Davis 100 yards. An answered prayer.”
11 years later, 320 miles due east God answered our prayers during an event in Asheville North Carolina! In early August 50 young people from around the US gathered to learn about the Christian mission of the YMCA and be equipped to take those values back to their local Y’s.
Youth Unify Was Special
Special because it felt improbable to get young people to travel across the country for an event like this.
It was Special because young people got in vans, traveled thousands of miles, slept on YMCA gym floors, one person took a 200 dollar uber ride just to get to Youth Unify North America.
It was special because typically young people’s involvement in the Y is a parasitic relationship. Youth walk our YMCA hallways looking to snap pool sticks, torment locker rooms, and fail to bench press unreasonable amounts of weight. Instead, 18-30 year olds from Minnesota, Washington, Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky gathered to worship God and be equipped to serve their local YMCAs. When you think of Gen Z, you don’t think of worship and Bible study, do you? Yet it was happening right before our eyes.
It was special because we prayed for it to happen. Seeing God answer prayers is a great privilege, it’s exciting. We get to cry, “look what God did, can you believe it?” Youth Unify truly was an answer to our prayers.
What is often forgotten about how special the 2013 Iron Bowl is what happened the game prior. #7 Auburn was losing to #25 Georgia. If they lost this game their SEC championship hopes would be crushed and their national champion aspirations dashed. Lucky enough for me, my college mentor got me tickets to the game.
In similar fashion to the game that would precede it, the game came down to the wire. Down by one point on 4th down, with 36 seconds left, and 73 yards away, Auburn threw a hail mary. It was under thrown. It was heading straight for two Georgia defenders. As they jumped for the ball, they collided in the air, popping the ball straight up and into the arms of an Auburn receiver who ran it for a touchdown – Auburn wins! The play would later be called the Prayer In Jordan Hare.
What are the odds of those plays happening? How often do they happen in back to back games? What are the chances I would be at both games?
Now that I think about it, maybe Youth Unify wasn’t all that special. Things are special in nature because of how rarely they happen. YMCA history would tell you that this event wasn’t lucky, a happy accident, or improbable. Youth Unify North America is evidence that God is doing once again what he’s done over and over again. Youth Unify North America stands in the shadow of a long and rich history of Christian Youth movements.
The Y was started by young people (like George Williams, Oswald Chambers) getting on their face and praying. It’s been carried on by young people (like DL Moody and Annie Witenmeyer) meeting physical needs and sharing the hope and truth of Jesus with a suffering world. All across the world, young people are gathering in the name of Jesus under the banner of the Y. The Y has always been and continues to be a beacon of hope with the love of Jesus Christ through young people.
Come be a part of what God is doing in the YMCA’s across North America next year in August.