We’ll get back to Exodus and Moses, but the NCAA Basketball Tournament has provided a story too good to pass up: in 2018, the 36th year of the 64-team format for the tournament, a 16-seed defeated a 1-seed when the University of Maryland-Baltimore defeated Virginia. It took only 5 years for lightning to strike again when Fairleigh-Dickinson University (FDU) defeated mighty Purdue yesterday.

It really was David versus Goliath: FDU has the smallest team in the tournament with their tallest guy “only” 6′ 6″. By contrast Purdue’s center, Zach Edey is 7′ 4″, and the Wall Street Journal had already written a feature about him and the Purdue team. Here’s a snippet:

[Purdue coach Matt] Painter’s strategy of building around large, surprisingly agile athletes has made the Boilermakers a mainstay in the top of the Big Ten in recent years. This season, a 7-foot 4 wrecking ball named Zach Edey has catapulted 26-5 Purdue to loftier heights—a Big Ten regular-season title, the top seed in the conference tournament that begins this week and the No. 1 ranking in the nation for seven weeks this winter. Come Selection Sunday, Purdue could possibly secure a one-seed for the NCAA tournament—which would be its first top seed since 1996. Should the Boilermakers’ winning ways continue, they could snap Purdue’s 41-year Final Four appearance drought. – Laine Higgins, Wall Street Journal, March 6, 2023

While Edey did score 21 points and snag 15 rebounds yesterday, he didn’t get off a shot in the last 12 minutes. Why? Because the FDU coach had a plan. He had told his team, “The more I watch Purdue, the more I think we can beat them.” Really?

The Fairleigh Dickinson Knights were easily the worst team in this year’s 68-team field… And they were the extraordinarily rare No. 16 seed to sneak into the NCAA tournament without winning their conference tournament first… But…

A bunch of tiny players with a first-year coach managed to knock off a team led by a 7-foot-4 giant that was a favorite to win the national championship. For the rest of the details, read the whole article by Ben Cohen and Andrew Beaton, Wall Street Journal, March 18, 2023.

That article contains a lot of technical detail. What I saw in the few minutes of the game I was able to see was that FDU out-hustled Purdue. It’s not as simple as that, but certainly, that had to be a factor.

The point, of course, is that the unexpected does happen. Furman, a 13-seed, had already knocked off Virginia, a 4-seed, and 2-seed Arizona lost to 15-seed Princeton. Clemson, top seed in the NIT, lost their first game as well to a team they should have been able to beat handily.

As we move into Exodus, the Israelites were certainly underdogs to mighty Egypt…or were they?

Got any rivers you think are uncrossable?
Got any mountains you can’t tunnel through?
God specializes in things thought impossible
and he will do what no other power can do. (Lyrics by Oscar C. Eliason)

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us… (Ephesians 3.20, NKJV)

For all the hoopla and wild parties that some practice on March 17, the real story of St. Patrick is worth remembering. A friend and Navigator colleague who is from Northern Ireland summarizes it this way:

It’s important to remember that Patrick was a great missionary. He was an apostle to the Irish in the AD 400s and was used by God to convert the Celts of Ireland to Christianity, despite opposition from those who practiced the Druid religion.

There’s more to the story, including the fact that Patrick was taken from his home in Britain to Ireland and sold as a slave, escaping after six years. Then he returned, years later, to evangelize the people who enslaved him. A nice summary written by Chuck Colson in 2006 is worth the read.

Last year, my friend and Navigator colleague Bill Mowry wrote an extraordinary piece on how Patrick incorporated art and imagination to reach the Irish. This is also an excellent read.

I can’t add to what Chuck and Bill have said except to note that the Apostle Paul was St Patrick’s model:

Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 21.13, ESV)

For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. (1 Corinthians 9.19 – 22, ESV)

We continue our journey through the Pentateuch, with Exodus chapter 1, which begins about 400 years after Genesis leaves off with the chosen people, Jacob and his sons settling in Egypt.

There is an intriguing setup:

And a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply and it be in the event of war, that they also join themselves to those who hate us and fight against us and go up from the land.” (Exodus 1.8 – 10, LSB)

It’s an interesting mix here: they don’t like the Israelites, but they don’t want them to leave. Also, “more and mightier than we.” How can that be? Egypt was a nation and Jacob’s family was 70 people 400 years before! Were Egyptians practicing family planning while Israelites were having babies? It’s why Muslims, for example, are gradually taking over some of the European countries they’re in. The Muslims are having kids. Europeans aren’t.

Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other was named Puah; and he said, “When you are helping the Hebrew women to give birth and see them upon the birthstool, if it is a son, then you shall put him to death; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.” (Exodus 1.15, 16, LSB)

There must have already been a culture of death in Egypt. That’s probably why there were more Israelites than Egyptians. And if the midwives wouldn’t kill them at birth, then the law was extended to kill them after birth:

And Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is born (to the Hebrews) you are to cast into the Nile, and every daughter you are to keep alive.” (Exodus 1.22, LSB)

It’s going that way in this country. Abortion up to the time of birth, and if it is born alive, let the baby die. Other countries, apparently, take it further.

Tomorrow we’ll see that Moses is born into such an environment, and he doesn’t escape the culture of death.

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2.15 – 17, ESV)

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. (Proverbs 14.12, ESV)

My cousin Carol wrote a lovely response to Sunday’s blog on The Remnant. It’s too good not to share.

This is a needed reminder to continue being living witnesses to our lost world. When I was young and working with YWAM, my pastor encouraged me saying “God told us to tell them, not save them. That is not our role. He will save those who believe.” Those words freed me from the frustration of rejection, and spurred me to spread the Good News even more than ever. Our enemy delights seeing God’s children intimidated and fearful about witnessing to a lost world. – Carol Baumann, March 14, 2023

“God told us to tell them, not save them.” That will preach.

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. (1 Corinthians 1.21, ESV)

Sometimes I’m slow on the uptake. On Saturday, when June and I were treating our oldest son, Mark, to lunch on his birthday, Mark said, “Do you want to join me for lunch at the Pi Bar Tuesday?” It’s a restaurant I’d heard of but never been to. We agreed on a time, and it just occurred to me this morning that we’re going to lunch in honor of Pi Day, today, 3.14 (March 14).

March 14, written 3.14, captures the first two decimal digits of pi. Some people pause for a moment of silence at 1:59 pm in honor of the next three digits. Pi’s digits go on infinitely and I think the record for memorized pi digits is 70,000. That’s a lot of digits and completely unnecessary. Someone asked a rocket scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) how many digits they use in their calculations:

To start, let me answer your question directly. For JPL’s highest accuracy calculations, which are for interplanetary navigation, we use 3.141592653589793. – Marc Rayman, who first asked the question as a 6th grader!

He went on to explain that using an approximation to pi out to 15 decimal places means that if you wanted to calculate the circumference of the earth given its diameter of just over 7900 miles, your answer would be off by about the size of a molecule.

Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. (Isaiah 40.21 – 23, ESV, emphasis mine)

What happens when the best you can do is not enough?

The NCAA Basketball Tournament bracket was released yesterday afternoon, and Clemson didn’t make the cut despite being the #3 seed in the ACC tournament with a record of 23 – 10 (14 – 6 in the ACC). NC State is in the tournament as an 11-seed. NC State also had a record of 23 – 10, but they were the #6 seed in the ACC tournament. Clemson beat NC State three times this season with margins of 14 points (at home), 25 points (at NC State), and 26 points (neutral site).

Most pundits said Clemson was wrongfully snubbed. I heard part of an interview with the Chairman of the NCAA Selection Committee. I didn’t hear him discuss Clemson, but of the teams he did discuss, one time he said “metrics;” another time it was “body of work over the whole season;” another time it was “quality wins.” In other words, if you have enough selection parameters, you can do just about anything you want. The Clemson coach said it was a shame when metrics override common sense and head-to-head competition.

Back to the original question: what do you do when the best you can do is not good enough? Clemson was selected for the National Invitational Tournament, and they go in as a #1 seed. The NIT is clearly a second-rate tournament given that the NCAA Tournament has 68 teams in it.

The University of North Carolina (UNC), a basketball blueblood, who began the year ranked #1, had a disastrous start to their season, but they did better in the second half, finishing with a 20 – 13 record. They also were excluded from the NCAA Tournament, rightfully so, but they declined to play in the NIT. (It appears that UNC thinks it’s too good to play in the lowly NIT.)

I’m proud of Clemson for swallowing their disappointment and accepting the NIT’s invitation. Let’s see how they do – their first game is Wednesday.

It’s one thing to play hard when you want to win the national championship or even get into the tournament where that’s the prize. Do you continue to play hard for what appears to be a second-tier goal?

As believers, we don’t compete for a second-tier goal, but we do persevere through tough times. How?

I do have one compelling focus: I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future instead. I run straight for the divine invitation of reaching the heavenly goal and gaining the victory prize through the anointing of Jesus. (Philippians 3.13, 14, TPT)

I’ve written about “the remnant” before – it’s an important concept that I was just reminded of while reviewing a scripture memory verse in 2 Chronicles. Let me take a minute to set it up.

As we move through the Old Testament books dealing with the kings of Israel (1 Samuel – 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles), we learn that after the first three kings, Saul, David, and Solomon, the kingdom splits into a northern branch (“Israel”) and a southern branch (“Judah”). See 1 Kings 12. Israel has no good kings and never lives in obedience to the law. Judah has a few good kings, including Hezekiah.

We learn in 2 Chronicles 30 that Hezekiah wants to celebrate the Passover, an annual celebration (see Exodus 12.1 – 3 and Leviticus 23.4, 5), which had not been observed in a long time. I hadn’t noticed before that Hezekiah invited the northern tribes to participate:

So they decreed to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that the people should come and keep the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem, for they had not kept it as often as prescribed. So couriers went throughout all Israel and Judah with letters from the king and his princes, as the king had commanded, saying, “O people of Israel, return to the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may turn again to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. Do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who were faithless to the LORD God of their fathers, so that he made them a desolation, as you see. Do not now be stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the LORD and come to his sanctuary… (2 Chronicles 5 – 8, ESV, emphasis mine)

And what was the result?

So the couriers went from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far as Zebulun, but they laughed them to scorn and mocked them. However, some men of Asher, of Manasseh, and of Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. (2 Chronicles 30.10 – 11, ESV)

Look at the response:

• They laughed them to scorn and mocked them.
• HOWEVER, some men of Asher, of Manasseh, and of Zebulun (from the northern kingdom) humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.

It’s always the remnant. Our job is clear:

• Invite everyone.
• Expect rejection.
• Expect also that a remnant will respond. “Some”

Jesus predicted it:

Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold. (Mark 4.3 – 8, ESV)

Paul experienced it:

“The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” So Paul went out from their midst. But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them. (Acts 17.30 – 34, ESV)

I wrote last week about my son Mark winning the US National Championship for TowerRunning. I did not write about what happened (or did not happen) afterward. I left that to Mark, who wrote his account of the race on FaceBook a few days ago. Here is the relevant section:

[Winning the US National Championship] has been a goal for me since 2019. From early 2020 through late 2022, my fitness (and commitment) weren’t there. However, I’ve really been pushing hard the last several months, and have been writing it out with my goals: “I am the US National Champion.” Still, this wasn’t at all how I wanted to win it. God gave me a victory that only He can be credited with, and a nice little humility lesson on the side. My official time of 8:42, while actually the best I’ve ever done at this race, was fully 32 seconds slower than any US Champion has run it (that I know of). While it’s not uncommon for an international elite athlete to actually win the race, the US winners are typically under eight minutes. The slowest prior winner, who ran an 8:10, at least actually won the race.

To further ensure my ego was not excessively inflated, my parents and KC waited half the day for the awards ceremony, at which I received zero awards or recognition for being the TowerRunning USA Champion. The race organizers also failed to properly at least give me what would have been my third age group winner award, and there was no mention whatsoever of the US championship. TowerRunning USA also normally hands out awards for the prior year – that was not happening this year, for some reason, though I was casually informed that I’d finished first on that list as well.

How am I supposed to fill this trophy-shaped hole in my heart if I don’t get a trophy? – from Mark Ewell’s FaceBook post, reflecting on the lack of recognition

Mark started and ended his post with a riddle: What do you call the guy who finishes last in his class at medical school? Answer: “Doctor.”

What do you call the first American finisher of the TowerRunning USA Championship race? [Regardless of the time compared to races in years past or the lack of a trophy.] Answer: “US National Champion.” And he adds: “Grateful and humble.”

We’re still proud of Mark’s race and proud of the way he handled the aftermath.

And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not (Jeremiah 45.5, KJV)

We got through the exciting parts of Genesis when Joseph reconciled with his brothers. I wrote three blogs, starting here. Chapters 46 – 50 are mostly denouement, but let’s pick up some highlights.

• Jacob takes the whole family to Egypt and God confirms the promise:

And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.” And He said, “I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there. I Myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I Myself will also bring you up again; and Joseph will close your eyes with his hand.” (Genesis 46.2 – 4, LSB)

It’s an important promise and the reason they went to Egypt: 70+ nomadic people going in; a couple million (600,000 men) coming out. (See Exodus 12.37.) And it echoes what God told Abram:

Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. (Genesis 15.13, 14, ESV)

• They settle in Goshen, and Jacob blesses Pharaoh even while poor-mouthing his life:

Then Joseph brought in his father, Jacob, and presented him to Pharaoh. And Jacob blessed Pharaoh. “How old are you?” Pharaoh asked him. Jacob replied, “I have traveled this earth for 130 hard years. But my life has been short compared to the lives of my ancestors.” Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh again before leaving his court. (Genesis 47.7 – 10, NLT)

• Jacob lives 17 years in Egypt. (Genesis 47.28) Jacob blesses Joseph’s sons, putting Ephraim before Manasseh (Genesis 48). (In listings of the tribes of Israel, there is no “tribe of Joseph,” but there “half-tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.” For example, Numbers 32.33)

• Jacob blesses and prophesies over his sons, Genesis 49.
  • Firstborn Reuben doesn’t come out well. See Genesis 35.22. Uncontrolled as water, you shall not have preeminence, Because you went up to your father’s bed; Then you defiled it—he went up to my couch. (Genesis 49.4, LSB)
  • Simeon and Levi don’t do well either. See the end of Genesis 34 for the reason why. Simeon and Levi are brothers; their swords are implements of violence. Let my soul not enter into their council; Let not my glory be united with their assembly; Because in their anger they killed men, And in their self-will they hamstrung oxen. Cursed be their anger, for it is strong; And their wrath, for it is cruel. I will divide them amongst Jacob, And scatter them in Israel. (Genesis 49.5 – 7, LSB)
  • Then Judah, who failed miserably in chapters 37 and 38 but recovers in chapter 44, is the top dog, the one through whom Messiah comes: The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. (Genesis 49.10, LSB)
  • There are eight more brothers, including a long blessing for Joseph, and the passage ends: All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them. So he blessed them. He blessed them, every one with the blessing appropriate to him. (Genesis 49.28, LSB) That’s a lesson: “…with the blessing appropriate to [each one]”

• Jacob dies and is buried in the family burial plot. (Genesis 50.1 – 14)

• Joseph reassures his brothers as he did in Genesis 45.6.

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. (Genesis 50.20, ESV)

• Joseph makes his brothers promise that he, too, shall be buried in the promised land.

And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” (Genesis 50.24 – 25, ESV)

This request was explicitly mentioned at the Exodus:

Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones with you from here.” (Exodus 13.19, ESV)

Then Joseph dies:

So Joseph died, being 110 years old. They embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. (Genesis 50.26, ESV)

There’s a lot of sin in Genesis, beginning in chapter 3, and it is pointed out often that Genesis begins and ends this way:

In the beginning God…in a coffin in Egypt

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2.16, 17, ESV)

For the wages of sin is death… (Romans 6.23)

Do you have kids or grandkids who always have their noses in their phones, even when they’re supposed to be talking with you? We have a 17-year-old granddaughter who is like that. Always has been. She always has a screen in her hand, and she is (pick one) playing a game, reading a book, or texting with her friends.

June had an epiphany the other day. You probably had it a long time ago, but for us it’s new. June was following up with the granddaughter by text on something that had come up the last time they were together. They exchanged three or four text messages – the semblance of an actual conversation! Then it hit us:

If you want to reach someone who texts all the time…text them!

Duh.

We’re not the first. Paul wrote about it a long time ago:

…I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view… (1 Corinthians 9.22, MSG)