Tonight a friend of mine here in Seattle hooked me up with 4 tickets to the University of Washington basketball game.  He knew I was a basketball fan, and thought I’d be especially interested since the hometown Huskies were playing Texas A&M.  I rounded up a few buddies, and head for the arena.  I was excited since I’d never been to a UW athletic event before.

Our seats were great, and after arriving a little late, we had a great time watching the game…until an awful, unforeseen event took place.

Just a few minutes into the second half we witnessed one of the most horrific sports injuries I’ve ever seen.  The video is below; if you are squeamish, I recommend you not watch it.

To clarify, I do not post this video as a gruesome spectacle.  I found myself impacted on a surprising level by what we saw take place in those 10 minutes that felt like hours.

Derrick Roland is a senior for A&M, and tonight was his last game of college basketball.  Unfortunately he had no clue that was the case when he took the court.  No college basketball player ever thinks he is  going to get injured; we all assume things will go as planned, that our final game will take place after we greet our parents at half-court before the game, hold up a framed jersey and wave to an appreciative crowd.  We do not think things will end with an ambulance ride to a local hospital on a cold winter day in a strange city away from friends and family.

Basketball careers are fragile…much more fragile than players or fans are willing to admit.  The images of Roland’s teammates in emotional agony after the injury are as hard for me to watch as the injury itself.  I remember such times – praying for teammates (who have become family) who have worked their whole lives in pursuit of a dream, only to watch it all end with a fluke injury. Devastating.

Again, basketball careers are fragile.

I’m learning that so is life.

On Thanksgiving Day one of the most gifted young preachers in the country, Matt Chandler, suffered a seizure, and has since been diagnosed with brain cancer.  He finds himself in the battle of his life, during what is supposed to be considered the prime of his life.

The way he has handled this ordeal has spoken to millions across the world, myself included.  He has recorded and posted two videos since the seizure.  The first was captured immediately after finding out he had a mass on his frontal lobe, before surgery or biopsy.  It is possibly the most important thing I’ve seen in 2009.

The second video was posted shortly after Matt found out the mass on his brain was in fact cancerous.  His faith in God and confidence in God’s sovereignty are obviously unshaken.

I have never been so aware of my own fragility before.  I am in a city that I love, with people that I love, enjoying a holiday that I love – but in just seconds it could be me lying on the hardwood floor, or me trying to figure out how to comfort my wife despite news I am being vaulted into the battle of all battles.

These are sobering thoughts, but they should also spark me to action.  If my tomorrows are so obviously finite in number, that should definitely affect what I do with today…

…and it should make me grateful that I know there is purpose.  There is always purpose.  He is sovereign, and he is on the throne.

I ask that you pray for Derrick Roland as he deals with the devastating end to this chapter of his life.

I ask that you pray for Matt Chandler and his family as they battle through chemotherapy and radiation.

And I pray that you realize a profound truth;  you are fragile…but luckily God’s plan is not.

update:  ESPN just posted an article that talks about Roland’s injury and its impact on his team.  Keep him in your prayers.