Event + Response = Outcome Revisited

Before the season started, Braxton Miller (right) was Ohio State's
starting quarterback, J.T. Barrett (center) was the backup, and 
Cardale Jones (left) was just hoping to see some playing time.

I don’t often write about sports here, but I enjoy how principles that undergird athletic success correlate to virtually every aspect of everyday life. Yes, boorish, ”look at me” behavior displayed by some athletes can be hard to take, but glowing examples of perseverance and determination to triumph over adversity touch our hearts.

Imagine this unlikely scenario: Before the season, a highly regarded college football team loses its star quarterback for the season due to injury. A key defensive player is suspended due to substance abuse and doesn’t see the field all year. The star running back suffers a broken hand he must deal with throughout the season.

Urban Meyer and MVP running back Ezekiel Elliott
celebrate the triumphant end to a very unlikely season.

In its second game of the season, the young, inexperienced team suffers a devastating loss to an inferior foe at home, and weeks later must forge an incredible comeback to record a double-overtime victory with its second-string quarterback scoring two touchdowns despite a sprained knee.

A well-liked walk-on player dies tragically. Then, in the final regular season game against its hated foe, the now star (former second-string) quarterback sustains a broken ankle, forcing the third-string quarterback to step into a pressure-packed, must-win situation.

This young man, who previously had seen only limited action, not only finishes that game but also leads the team to the conference title, then excels during both the College Football Playoff semifinal and championship game victories.

In all likelihood, not even Hollywood would consider a movie script with such an unlikely storyline. “Too unbelievable!” they would say. And yet, that was the story of the Ohio State Buckeyes, who overcame all of the above – and more – to be crowned college football’s national champions by dominating Big Ten foe Wisconsin, SEC champion Alabama, and finally, Oregon and its Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Marcus Mariota.

Cardale Jones, a 6-5, 250-pound giant of a quarterback, rose from obscurity to fame in the blink of an eye, probably setting a record for shortest transition from “who’s he?” to “Who’s Who.”

Before the season, the OSU players, head coach Urban Meyer and his assistant coaches had met with business consultants Tim Kight and his son, Brian, to learn important lessons in team building. One of the principles involved an equation, E (Event) + R (Response) = O (Outcome). Last August, none of them could have imagined the array of overwhelming events they would have to respond to or what the outcomes would be. But through those circumstances they gained enduring lessons on the value of perseverance and willingness to tackle adversity head-on.

The Bible states, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2-4). During the 2014 season the Buckeyes indeed faced trials of many kinds, and the testing of their faith – in each other, their coaches, and for some, their God – developed great perseverance and maturity.

Most of us will never play on a national championship team of any kind, but we will certainly encounter a variety of trials in life. The question is, will we allow our faith to be tested – to reveal what we truly believe – and enable us to develop perseverance that will serve us not only in this life, but also the life to come?

Happy, Happy, Happy

A Facebook friend, in response to one of my comments, recently observed how we feel about things and life in general, like being happy or sad, is largely a matter of choice. There’s a lot of validity to that. I recall years ago someone wrote a book called Happiness is a Choice. I never read it, so apparently I chose to be happy without it.

In many instances we can actively choose our attitudes. Urban Meyer, head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes football team (it’s my blog, so I can mention them if I want!) has been using a formula with his players supporting this concept: E + R = O (Event + Response = Outcome).

That idea finds affirmation in many quarters. We all remember the lilting Bobby McFerrin tune, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” I’ve not become an avid fan of the TV reality series “Duck Dynasty,” but noticed Phil Robertson, the original Duck commander (head quack pot?) has written an autobiography called Happy, Happy, Happy. Better than sad, sad, sad for sure.

"Happy" can come and go in
an instant. "Joy" stays forever.

Being essentially a glass-half-full kind of person, finding the happier side of things might be easier for me than for some others. But I only agree with the notion that we can choose to be happy to a degree. Since our state of “happy” is strongly influenced by happenings around us, remaining happy about everything would require some level of lunacy or cluelessness.

Suppose you’ve had an enjoyable time at the mall, bought a few nice things you needed – or wanted – and you’re feeling happy. Then you notice the fender on your car, smashed, taillight in smithereens on the pavement. You search for a note from the offending motorist, but there’s none. It was hit-and-run, and now you’re calling your insurance agent, unsure about the extent of your uninsured motorist coverage. How happy are you now?

Or you’ve been having a bothersome pain, so you go to your physician, who orders a couple of tests and some blood work. “It’s probably nothing to be concerned about,” she assures you in her best effort to avoid admitting, “I don’t have a clue what’s wrong with you.” A day or two later you receive a phone call and learn the “probably nothing” is definitely something, and it needs to be treated immediately. How happy are you now?

Or you report for work, as you have the past dozen years or so, ready to tackle another day of challenges. Your boss calls and asks you to come by his office. As compassionately as possible, he informs you the company is being forced to make some regrettable cuts – and sorry, you’re a “cut-ee.” How happy are you now?

There’s even a misconception that if you’re a follower of Christ you’re supposed to be continually happy. After all, doesn’t the old hymn say, “and now I am happy all the day”? But in reality, the state of being or feeling happy is neither requirement nor expectation for following Jesus.

Checking with my trusty concordance, the word “happy” appears less than 30 times in the entire Bible. However, there are more than 200 variations of the word “joy” in the Bible. In reality, happy is to joy what a housecat is to a tiger. Totally different animal.

Yes, there are many times when happiness and joy intersect. But joy can exist – even endure – when happy goes away. That’s the promise Jesus made to all who follow Him.

He said, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:9-11).

One thing Jesus never promised His followers was they would always be happy or without problems. In fact, He assured just the opposite. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). In place of “take heart,” other translations use the words “be courageous” or “be of good cheer.” In other words, we can rejoice even when we find nothing to feel happy about.

Gazing at the world around us, some of us may be delighted by what we see, others may feel distressed. You might have just experienced one of the happiest moments of your life, or you may be enduring a great personal loss or tragedy. Regardless of the circumstances, even when we feel overwhelmed, incapable of choosing to be happy, we can experience the joy only Jesus can give.