I've been enjoying high school wrestling lately. 

A family in our church have two sons, both of whom wrestle for the same high school my kids go to.  The first time I went it was to be with the family.  Now I've been three times and have become addicted to the intensity of these matches of strength and cunning.  I've seen aggressive matches and those where no one seems to want to do anything, conserving energy to maintain the status quo until the end of the match.  I've also seen others who come to the end of a match, too far behind to catch up and then start taking some risks because the match is just about over.  They win or lose, giving everything they have.

It really is a bit of a rush...

I've also been to a few wrasslin' matches as well.  One night I saw Hulk Hogan defeat Rick "The Nature Boy" Flair.  I've also seen Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka live, before he was the "fly" guy (in Seattle he was the "Tongen Warrior").  I've even seen the best tag team ever, the "Road Warriors."  But I think that best professional wrasslin' match I've ever witnessed was in Seattle many years ago.  It was the local favorite, Dutch Savage against former world champion, Gene Kiniski.  Savage was a bit beyond his prime, meaning he had that endearing image among his fans.  He was a good guy all the way around.  As far as being a bad guy (that's how the sport works, good vs evil), Kiniski was the quintessential meanie.  By this time he was loooong past his prime and was relegated to traveling to all the regional markets and plying his trade in a series of one-night stands so that everyone could see the local favorite beat a former world champ.

I'll never forget that bout.

They went around and 'round, with the momentum teetering back and forth.  Finally after about an hour, Savage had Kiniski laid out in the middle of the mat (feigning unconsciousness) while our hero went to the corner ropes, climbed to the top, promptly slipped, fell, and severely injured himself.

Anymore detail on the injury would be TMI.

And then the truth of the sport of wrasslin' revealed itself to a junior high boy who was having the time of his life (that would be me).  Kiniski lay on the mat for about 20 minutes, waiting to be finished off in the clearly prearranged before the bout manner that had been scripted.  The referee, also in on the fix didn't know what to do.  He couldn't count Savage out, because he was supposed to win.  The problem was Savage was on the floor, outside the ring, writhing in pain. 

He wasn't getting up without aid anytime in the near month.

Finally, after that 20 minutes that seemed like an eternity, Kiniski sheepishly peeked out of his left eye to see what was going on and then rolled over and got up.  The referee had no choice but to declare the imported meanie the winner.

You know what?  Wrasslin' is entertainment because it is scripted.  High school wrestling is clearly life "unscripted."  I think that I would like to have my life be scripted, thank you very much.  That way I would have more control; but that's not the way things work.  I know that Jesus knows what's on the horizon for me because He is omniscient, which means He "knows everything."  But today and tomorrow is clearly unscripted.  That's why I can sit on the edge of a bleacher on a Thursday night and cheer for some boys whom I've never met before because what they are doing is...real.

This life for us in our mind's eye is unscripted.  We'd better just "go for it" because we're not promised tomorrow.  The best part?  We know one very important part of the script that Jesus shares with all who call on His Name... 

We win in the end.