Where do I begin with this one? Tammy and I are trying to soak in all of the events from this past week. I didn't think anything could top Wednesday night's Christ Makes Winners Rally at CrossPointe, but I was so wrong. I want to say up front that I firmly believe that God doesn't care who wins football games or any other sporting events, but I do believe He can show Himself through these types of events and other daily activities. Tammy and I have both shared before the significance of numbers attached to James' life. James was number 23 in football, number 15 in baseball, he was 17 years old when he went missing, number 17 in his class and was missing for 17 days. We don't worship these numbers, but we are keenly aware whenever they show up, and we believe God reveals Himself to us through these numbers at times to let us know He's still got this.
Tammy and I had decided we were going to watch this year's Valdosta-Lowndes game on TV, since ESPNU was broadcasting it. It would just be easier to do that this year. On Monday I decided I would go ahead and buy tickets just in case we changed our mind. I was there late Monday afternoon, and Marty Roesch was at the ticket window. I told him I just needed two of the four tickets we were eligible to buy. He asked me if I wanted low, medium or high seats in the stadium. I told him it didn't matter. Then he asked if I was sure I wanted just the two tickets. I told him I'd buy all four. I paid for the tickets and went home without looking at them. I called my friend, Todd Buckham, later that afternoon to see if he still needed tickets since he wouldn't be able to get his until the next day. He called me back and told me he had been able to get his tickets, and I didn't think anything more about it. We attended the FCA Rally at CrossPointe on Wednesday, and saw Terry Allen, who plays for Valdosta, afterwards and he said he hadn't seen us at the Cat Walk. We were out of town on one, and I had car problems on the last one and was late getting home from work and missed the one for MLK. After he said that to us, I told Tammy we had to go to the game.
On Thursday, our friend, Rahat, came to help us set up a website. The football game came up in conversation, and he said he had never been to a Valdosta game before, so we invited him to Friday's game. I went to the bedroom, and picked up our tickets, and saw we were sitting in Section M, Row 23, Seats 21, 22, 23 and 28. We gave him the ticket for seat 21, and we kept the other 3. I showed Tammy the other tickets after he left. Row 23, Seat 23.
We went to the game, along with most of the community, and found our seats. It turned out we were sitting behind Claudette Gillespie, her mother (who we had met the Sunday before), and Coach Gillespie's mother. We were two rows behind Julie Loudermilk, Coach Loudermilk's wife. As the game began, we noticed Jeffries Eldridge on the field filimng the game wearing a Clock is Ticking t-shirt. A few of the players and several others had told us they were playing the game for James, and, of course, we were cheering for them, win, lose, or draw. The game lived up to its billing. Both teams played well. Lowndes controlled most of the first half, and went in at halftime ahead 14-0. Valdosta took the second half kickoff and put together a seven minute drive to make the game 14-7. The game moved on, and Lowndes kicked a field goal to make the score 17-7. Valdosta drove to the Lowndes one yard line late in the fourth quarter, but the Lowndes defense held on fourth and goal, and Lowndes took over with just over 5 minutes left in the game. Four plays later, Lowndes punted the ball back to us with 3:34 left in the game. We completed a pass on our first play, and Lowndes intercepted on the next play with 2:54 left in the game. Lowndes ran the ball on three straight plays, and the Cats used their last timeout before Lowndes punted back to us with 1:20 remaining in the game. There was 1:10 left when we took over. Many of the fans were filing out of the game. Tammy had prayed before the game, "God, I know you don't care who wins this game, but I want you to get the most glory, however the game turns out." With about a minute and a half left, she said she heard God say, "Do you trust me? This isn't over yet. I'm not finished." She told me this on Saturday. On the first play, the Cats completed a pass for 50 yards to the Lowndes 5. We spiked the ball to stop the clock with 57 seconds left in the game. The Cats scored on the next play to make it 17-14 with 49 seconds left. We set up for the onside kick, and recovered it on the Lowndes 47 with 45 seconds left. We lost five yards on a penalty on the first down, and replayed the down with 41 seconds left. We threw an incomplete pass and the clock moved to 37 seconds. We completed a pass to the 35 on the next play for a first down with 29 seconds left. We spiked the ball to stop the clock with 27 seconds left. After the game was over, we came home to watch this last series again. At this point in the game, the announcers posted on the TV screen and announced to the audience our quarterback, Shelby Wilkes, was 15 of 23 for 170 yards. There are those numbers again. On the next play, Shelby threw a 35 yard touchdown pass to put Valdosta ahead. We scored with 17 seconds left. The Cats recovered the kickoff and ran out the clock to win the game.
We had to watch the last few seconds when we returned home because we missed the extra point after the go-ahead touchdown was scored. Tammy and I both were overcome with emotion and had to sit down. We knew how much this game meant to James last year, and how proud he is of his teammates for how they played this year.
I apologize for all of the details in the note, but I think it's important to the story. A big part of the story is how well both teams played, and we are so proud of both schools. Along with that goes the many gracious notes we and James have received from Lowndes' fans on the game. We thank you so much for remembering James. Both teams represented this community well, but we have to tell this from the Valdosta perspective, because James will forever be a Wildcat. The Cats honored James as so many of them had said they would, and they honored who James served. The numbers 23, 15, and 17 may not mean anything to anyone else, and many may think these are trivial or just coincidences, but we never will. To us it shows God is still in control of this story. We know God works in mysterious ways. We made a commitment to God we would share what we experience, and this is part of our journey. We've said before, we don't want to miss a thing, so we had to tell this. We continue to be amazed. We were amazed Friday night by the spirit of these Wildcats, at how they battled back from a seemingly insurmountable lead with so little time on the clock. We are so proud of them. They never, never, never quit. That's the beauty of God, too. He never quits on us, no matter how dire the consequences, how inexplainable the situation or how overwhelming things might seem. We continue to be amazed at how God continues to reveal things to us in so many different ways. He told Tammy He wasn't finished Friday night, and I don't think He's finished with James' story yet either. It's up to us to stay alert on the journey so we don't miss anything God reveals along the way.