I visited the home of what some consider a quirky crew – the campus of Texas A&M University.   It began as an agriculture school.  Some students still bring their own horses to college with them. I wonder if they get a free ride.  I attended Ohio State, also an Ag school.  They told me to hold my horses.

I was there at Kyle field to watch the Aggies play some football.  The stands were packed with ordinary students with some odd traditions.  They held out their fists with an upraised thumb and urged their team to “gig” their rivals.

Students would whoop it up when they were excited.  But they are not permitted to whoop until they become upperclassmen.  Is whooping class 301 a requirement?

When the team scored, the ecstatic students turned and kissed their dates.  If you didn’t have a date, you might get kissed anyway.  

And then there was the tradition of the 12^th man.  It began in 1922 with an alum named E. King Gill.  He was a former member of the A&M football team and was in the stands to watch them play top-ranked Centre College.   It was a brutal game with nearly every Aggie sustaining an injury. 

The desperate coach summoned Gill down from the bleachers and told him to suit up.  Gill became the 12th man on the team, standing on the sideline waiting to be sent in.  The Aggies, however, prevailed.  So, Gill was not sent in, but he was ready. 

Soon after, the tradition took root.  Today the students stand the entirety of every football game.  They symbolically assume the role of the 12^th man, ready for the coach to send them in for the win.

This brings to mind the 4^th man tradition.  This one goes back a little farther than 1922, 540 BC to be exact.  Three brave young men were commanded to fall down and worship the image of an egotistical king.  If they defied him, they would be thrown into a blazing furnace. 

These men have always stood out to me as the most heroic of heros in the Bible.  Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego told the king, “We do not need to give you a reply concerning this. If our God whom we are serving exists, he is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he will rescue us, O king, from your power as well. But if he does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we don’t serve your gods, and we will not pay homage to the golden statue that you have erected” – Daniel 3:16-18. – NETBible®

What courage!   They knew that their mighty God could deliver them if He so chose, but even if He should not, they would not bow down and worship the king’s image. 

The king was fit to be tied, so the men were tied up and the furnace was heated to 7 times its usual temperature.  It was so intense it fried the men who tossed them in. 

And yet the King was astounded to look into the oven and see the three walking about, unscathed by the flames – even more shocked to find that there was a fourth man present with them – one the king fearfully compared to a “son of the gods.” 

Who was that person?  That 4^th man was more than a man.  He was in fact – a – rather THE – one and only Son of God. 

He was suited up and ready get into the fray to rescue His faithful ones.  But, in this case, the Father gave the order and sent Him into the game, and He used His miraculous powers to preserve our three heroes and help them to prevail.

The Son of God once said to us, “Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God, believe also in me” – John 14:1 (KJV) Jesus is still standing, waiting to be called in when needed.  So call!

A PRAYER: Lord, this is a tradition that I treasure – thank you

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.