"We've Never Had Anything Like That Before"

by Josh Flickinger


The scoreboard Saturday showed the stark reality: Pecatonica 54, South Beloit 38. What it didn’t, or couldn’t, reflect was the emotions of an evening that won’t soon be forgotten.

Clinton girls basketball coach Mike Powers got wind of the fact the school had just six girls go out for basketball and games were typically only attended by around 20 SoBo fans.

So, he did something about it. Powers, also a youth pastor at Faith Community Church in Janesville, gathered his youth group. His players at Clinton came. He reached out to other coaches in the conference, and there were contingents from fellow Rock Valley Conference members Jefferson and Beloit Turner.

The game itself played out like most SoBos home games have. The team was competitive for much of the first two and a half quarters or so before tiring and eventually succumbing.

But indelibly etched in the memories of the South Beloit players will be the enthusiastic student section, who loudly cheered, chanted and held home-made signs aloft even as the game got away from the home team.

“It was the most exciting thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Kirichkow said. “We’ve never had anything like that before. The fact that they came out, made us posters and acted like they were our biggest fans was so sweet. No matter what the score was, we stayed motivated on the court because they kept us up. I couldn’t ask for anything better than that.”

First-year South Beloit coach Phil Suprenant was also appreciative.

“We grabbed the opening tip-off and got the lead, and you could just see what the energy did for our players,” Suprenant said. “It made a big difference. The confidence that it gives you, that people are there, that they care about you, it does matter. We had more South Beloit kids than we’ve had any other time this year, but it still wasn’t much. I just think there’s kind of a fraternity with teams in the area, but what happened tonight was amazing. It was overwhelming.”

Clinton senior Brittany Kalk was among the handful of Cougars who chose to spend their Saturday night cheering for strangers.

“We hear that South Beloit doesn’t have the crowd most schools get to have,” Kalk said. “When we have a rough game, our crowd really picks us up and motivates us, so we thought maybe that’s something they would like. It obviously shows us what a great person Mike is, and it motivates us to be great people like that, too.”

Jefferson sophomore Macy Graf made the hour-long drive along with her coach Chris Zastrow and a handful of teammates.

One Race

by Dr. Georgia Purdom

 

• The families that scattered from Babel brought different combinations of genes with them. But their physical differences were trivial. We all have the same basic brown pigment, and we belong to one race—the human race—descended from Adam.
  
  Have you ever been “people watching” in a shopping mall and noticed how different people look? So many shapes, colors, and sizes! In family photos that include my adopted daughter from China, it’s easy to see some of those differences. They aren’t major but nonetheless visible. My daughter will tell you that my eyes are rounder than hers and my skin is lighter brown. If all people descended from Adam and Eve as the Bible makes clear (Genesis 3:20; 1 Corinthians 15:45), why do we look so different?
  
  The Bible gives us the answers. Although Adam and Eve are often shown to be fair-skinned and blond, this was unlikely. To derive all the different skin shades from one couple, Adam and Eve likely were middle-brown in color. If Adam and Eve had a mixture of “light color” genes and “dark color” genes, then their descendants could have a wide range of skin color from very light to very dark, with most people somewhere between (as seen in the world today). Adam and Eve likely possessed genetic variation for eye shape and other distinguishing characteristics as well.
  
  As people migrated from Babel, different groups became isolated from others and likely married only within their language group. Each group carried a set of physical characteristics as determined by their genes. As they intermarried, certain characteristics would begin to dominate due to the group’s small pool of genes. Over time, different people groups displayed distinct physical characteristics. For example, Asians typically have almond-shaped eyes, dark hair, and middle-brown skin, whereas Europeans have round eyes and fair-colored hair and skin.
  
  The term race is often used to classify people based almost solely on physical characteristics. According to evolutionary ideas, these so-called races descended from different ancestors separated by location and time. However, based on biblical history, the term race must be incorrect. We are all one race (“one blood” in Acts 17:26), the human race, descended from two ancestors, Adam and Eve.
  
  When we stand boldly and confidently on God’s Word, we can correctly understand the unity and diversity of the human race.

FROM ONE, MANY All people of the earth descended from Noah’s descendants, who scattered from Babel. “From [Babel] the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.” Genesis 11:9

Source: AnswersinGenesis.org