The title for this blog is the summary of most newspapers around the nation. College basketball fans know about KU's loss to Northern Iowa last Saturday. While "dreams of sugar plums" were not dancing in my head, dreams of breakdancing (in 1984 terms) into the Sweet 16, elite 8, and final 4 in the "Big Dance" were. In fact, it would not be an understatement to say that I expected them to win the championship this year based on their season. 

While the loss was surprising on the one hand, it was not on the other. An expectation for this team to run through the ranks and win it all has been present throughout the season (and all of the pressure accompanying it). When they have trailed late in games, they have typically been able to dial up the intensity and pull out games (as the 33-3 season record would indicate). However, in the round of 32, they fell short against the Panthers-and the insane 3 pointers that continued to rain down from every spot on the court during the game. While the loss has been difficult for KU fans in general, it cannot be compared with the effects on the coaches and players who experienced the end to this year's run in Oklahoma City firsthand.

Expectations. A season culminating in a championship. The pressure to perform, compete, and thrive. The Jayhawk players have experienced all of the above this season, and we can all relate in one way or another.

How did you enter this week? Did you crawl out of bed on Monday morning with the expectation of anticipated successes, forming new relationships, and drawing closer in your walk with God? Or did the approach lean more towards looming thoughts of  failure, broken relationships, and yet another normal week in relationship with your Savior? Is it possible that many times we not only anticipate a lack of God's power in our lives each day, but in many respects we have come to expect it? And if that is the case, is that what God anticipates...expects...and hopes for us?

Paul wrote in Colossians 1:27 (ESV): "To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." If we have a personal relationship with Jesus, He (the hope of glory) lives in us! And that fact alone should bring about an anticipation...an expectation...a hope that has the ability to catapult our lives into a daily approach of "God, what do you have in store for this day? How can I be drawn closer to you? How can I truly be an extension of your love to those around me who know you personally, and to those who don't? How can I truly be your hands and feet today?" If life is approached from that perspective, knowing the hope of glory lives in us, our daily expectations for God to work and move in and through us may be...could be...would be...radically different.

Even on the heels of a Jayhawk loss, we (I) would remember there is a much bigger picture for this world, for this day, for this moment, and in my very approach to it. A basketball season ending loss is one thing. 40 years of loss from this point on without ever winning another game (I realize I am exaggerating) and the years that follow is another. Living without the expectation of God working and through us for a day or short season is one thing. A life characterized by the absence of expectation or anticipation of God moving and working, regardless of the visible results, is another.

Will we consider entering tomorrow with the expectation and anticipation of Jesus in us, the hope of glory, working in and through us, for His glory?