At the most pivotal moment of this game, I was in a car driving south on a highway in Minnesota, returning from an afternoon of Easter celebration with one of my housemate's families. Instead of listening to the game via radio, we had Taylor Swift cranked up in effort to get her little sister to smile. I didn't realize that I was missing one of the most crucial moments of Louisville basketball.
If any of you are sports fans, you have probably read all about this story already. If you aren't, here is a brief synopsis: With 6:22 left in the first of the game, Kevin Ware, a sophomore guard for the team, jumped to challenge an outside shot made by one of the Duke players. As he landed, both his tibia and fibula broke, sending six inches of bone piercing through his skin. I didn't get to see these moments live but these accounts by broadcaster Robert Valvano and my uncle Andy Janning gave me a good sense of what the general reaction was. I went back and watched the video. After stifling my gag reflex, I watched as the cameras surrounding the court captured the awestruck faces of Duke players and the tears and prayers of our own Louisville boys. Now, if you read the two stories I linked above, you already know this, but in case you skipped over them, which is just fine, here is what is so amazing about the whole thing. The next two rounds of the March Madness tournament are to be played in Atlanta, GA - Kevin's hometown. As Kevin was lying on the ground in front of his own bench with six inches of bone sticking out of his body, he summoned his team around him and told them in cut and dry terms that he would be fine and that what they needed to do was to go win this game.
Going into halftime seven minutes later, Louisville was barely holding onto the lead with a measly three points. After half-time, something changed. The theme for the rest of the night, and probably for the rest of the tournament, became "Bring Kevin home."
And now comes the question that so many people have been asking and trying to understand: so what?
So what - athletes get injured all the time. So what - they now have some kind of poignant motivation. So what - he's just a sophomore.
Here's the "so what" for me: Last night, a boy who had every opportunity to live out his dream could have lost it all. We now know that Ware is expected to be fine and back up on his feet in about a year. But last night, in those breathtaking, confusing, knock-the-wind-out-of-you minutes, no one knew that. A 20-year-old college basketball player, well on his way to becoming a star for a nationally renowned team, lay on the floor with all of that potentially thrown out the window. And how did he react?
He encouraged others. He drew those who were scared, upset, repulsed, and distraught towards him and sent them away with encouragement and hope.
That's the "so what." I am currently in my final semester at a Christian school and I am in a course called "Christian leadership in the Secular World." We have read several books by Henri Nouwen, Ken Jennings, John Stahl-Wert, and Kathy Escobar. The books all focus on how we can lead by serving. One of the most common principles that is discussed using different phrases is the idea that we lead by putting ourselves last. Jennings/Stahl-Wert's book calls this principle "Upending the Pyramid." Nouwen calls it being a "wounded healer." Escobar refers to it as "diffusing power." - The point remains the same: we become better leaders when our own interests take last priority. When we give up the shell of certainty and self-protection that the world teaches us to value, and instead we seek out ways to be vulnerable risk-takers, that is when we are modeling the love of Christ to the world.
That is what Kevin Ware did yesterday while he was laying on the ground as an entire nation feared for him, his health, and his career. He pulled those who were most afraid near to him, and by default, pulled the entire nation into him, and at his most vulnerable moment, diffused his power by emboldening those around him to do great things.
In the last 24 hours, social media has exploded with the Prayer for Ware campaign.
I am very aware that many people that I am close with and that many who might even read this blog are not religious, let alone Christian. That's okay. I am not asking you to believe the same things I do or worship the way I do. I realize that the things about Christianity or faith in general that have hurt you may far outweigh the things that have helped you. No one is asking to to forget those things.
Here is what I am saying about my faith. Christianity is a call to live a radical lifestyle - one that many people, including Christians, aren't good at. But when the radical actions of believers are truly meant, the impacts are truly felt throughout the world. What I am learning this year is that we are not called to be leaders, but influencers. I have no idea where Kevin Ware is in his spiritual journey but I do know that his actions yesterday were radical. They were the kind of radical that Christ calls us to - a radicalism that dares to sacrifice the self for the hope of others. I know that his sphere of influence is proving to be much larger than he probably ever imagined.
And I know this: The basketball world is praying for Kevin Ware right now. I am praying for more Kevin Wares.
If you have any doubts about Christ's call to radicalism, I would ask you to consider something. After Kevin Ware spoke those words to his teammates, Louisville came back after half-time to win the game by 22 points. What do you think everyone would remember about yesterday if Ware had spent his time talking worrying about himself? What would the "so what" be?
