ROCKWALL, TX - Are you a part of March Madness? Are you watching a lot of basketball these days? I am. If you are a sports fan, this is a great time of the year. The best teams in the nation are battling it out for the national championship of college basketball!

The last of the regular season polls are out. A committee looked at the polls and teams and selected 64 squads to participate. Everyone knows who the highest ranked teams are. Everyone knows who is supposed to win the early games, but they still line up and play. Sometimes teams like Belmont or Xavier could actually beat Duke! That is what makes the tournament exciting. You never know until the game is played and is over who will win. That uncertainty is what makes it exciting.

While we seem to like that type of uncertainty when we are talking about ball games, we don’t like it much in the other arenas of our lives. We don’t like it at all. We are usually a bit skittish about the unknown. That is why the Easter story is so important.

Recently, I had a friend of mine share a family story with me. He told me that he and his family had gone to his church to attend an Easter service. It was a musical drama about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. My friend told me that when it came time in the production for the crucifixion scene he became a little concerned about his five year old son who was sitting next to him. The dad put his arm around his young son and asked him, “Are you okay?” His son leaned over to his dad and said, “Yes. Don’t be afraid, daddy. I know how this ends.” That seemed to make a big difference. The five year old was not afraid. Why? He knew how the story would end.

As I write this story on Tuesday morning before the Finals tonight, I don’t know who will win the national championship of college basketball this year. That is okay. It actually adds to the excitement of the event. They are just ball games. They are fun to watch.

But some things are too important to not be sure of.

Easter tells us we can be sure of how our earthly story ends. As God’s people we should live with confidence because we know that our lives on this earth will end in victory. That victory is secure because it has already been won for us on the cross and through an empty tomb. Because of that, our eternal future is secure.

Sometimes it is good to know how the story ends!