If you’re in search of a respite from the wall-to-wall coverage of the federal indictment of Donald Trump, or reports of Joe Biden’s alleged receipt of $5 million from Burisma, you’ve clicked on the right article.
Members of Oklahoma’s College World Series championship softball team were recently asked about their game strategy and style of play, just days before the team won their third consecutive national title. This led several players to openly discuss their shared faith—and the difference between happiness and joy. A video clip of the players’ interview quickly went viral.
Not that many years ago, this wouldn’t have been a particularly newsworthy story, but given today’s caustic political divisiveness, war on religion, insane wokeness, and left-wing support of so-called “transgenderism” — including irreversible “gender reassignment” surgery performed on minors — anecdotal evidence suggests that “Feel-Good Friday” stories and such provide invaluable relief from otherwise downer days.
In response to a question from an ESPN reporter, Oklahoma player Grace Lyons opened up about her faith.
The only way that you can have a joy that doesn’t fade away is from the Lord. And any other type of joy is actually happiness that comes from circumstances and outcomes.
It’s been said that happiness based on any number of factors external to one’s self, is fleeting; true joy comes from within and is generally predicated based on a belief in something great than ourselves. On that point, Lyons also told reporters:
Joy from the Lord is really the only thing that can keep you motivated [and] in a good mindset no matter the outcomes. That’s the only answer to that.
Lyons’ teammate Jayda Coleman said she “1,000 percent agreed with Grace Lyons,” adding she didn’t always have her teammate’s faith:
I went through that my freshman year. I was so happy that we won the College World Series but I didn’t feel joy. I didn’t know what to do the next day. I didn’t know what to do for that following week. I didn’t feel fulfilled and I had to find Christ in that.
Can’t you just hear the gnashing of left-wing teeth by liberals across America who unexpectedly run across these statements, or, God forbid, the video? White Christian women — the bane of the far left’s view of “What is a woman?” nonsense — losing their bitter minds?
Coleman said the key to her team’s success is they’re not afraid to lose:
I think that what makes our team so strong is that we’re not afraid to lose because it’s not the end of the world if we do lose. Yes, obviously, we worked our butts off to be here and we want to win, but it’s not the end of the world because our life is in Christ and that’s all that matters.
Teammate Alyssa Brito added, pointing her finger upward:
Eyes up. We’re really fixing our eyes on Christ. You can’t find fulfillment in an outcome, whether it’s good or bad. I think that’s why we’re so steady in what we do and in our love for each other and our love for the game because we know this game is giving us the opportunity to glorify God.
The Lord is good,” Lyons said, who scored a home run during the championship game. Another player, Jordy Bahl, said her mindset is to give the game “over to God.”
Several other players made similar comments in a separate interview.
Inspiring answer from the OU softball team about happiness versus joy.
So cool to see athletes use their platform to profess their faith. The Lord is at work.
“No matter the outcome, this isn’t our home. We have an eternity of joy.”
Grace Lyons, Jayda Coleman and Alyssa Brito. pic.twitter.com/7KR0Nyprbu
— Ross Lovelace (@Rosslovelace) June 7, 2023
As I suggested, earlier, the notion that a faith-based group of college softball players excitingly talking to a sports reporter about their unabashed faith in God would turn into not only a viral video but also become a national news story, is also a sad commentary on the intentionally divisive, “thought police” world of the radical left and how it continues to metastasize throughout this country.
Yet, it’s encouraging to watch a high-achieving group of young athletes unafraid to speak out about their faith for all the world to see.
Hope springs eternal for some, while some dismiss it out of hand, and still others, like these young women from the WCWS champion Oklahoma softball team, embrace a joy that comes from within, based on faith in something greater than themselves.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member