Sometimes we just wonder why. Why is it that someone with so much life to give faces the greatest challenge life has to offer? It just doesn’t seem fair when bad things happen to people that are giving so much.

Those were the thoughts running through the minds of many people several years ago as they watched one of the most enthusiastic sports figures in the country confront the challenge of a terminal disease. Jim Valvano was the beloved college basketball coach that once led North Carolina State University to an unexpected national championship. Television producers still rerun him springing down the court that night in celebration. And they still rerun the inspiring speech he made to a crowd of renowned sports figures in acceptance of a special award. Everyone exposed to him was captivated by his courage and his zeal for life and wondered why Jimmy V?

Answers to such questions usually come slowly. But God has bigger plans. He had bigger plans for the man that had been blind from birth. The man must have lived a life of suffering based on the story in John 9:1-4; but his life is one that is remembered two thousand years after he lived. It was a life with more powerful influence from the misfortune than anything he may have accomplished had his life been ordinary.

Such was the case the Jimmy V. God shined a spotlight on Jim Valvano’s life that night when the emotional coach sprang down a basketball a crowded floor in celebration of an unexpected championship. God’s plan set the stage for Jimmy to radiate his zeal for life that mesmerized a watching nation. But basketball championships were not the stage God had in mind for Jimmy. There were even bigger plans.

God had plans for Jimmy to champion a cause that would touch people around the world suffering with cancer. From his courage and zest for life, many have been inspired to contribute to a cause established in his name. And how can you measure the success of his cause over those years since God called Jimmy V home?

God calls most of us to make sacrifices to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But some are called so that the work of God might be displayed in their lives. So it was for the man that had been blind from birth; and so it was for Jim Valvano. Jimmy V’s life served a cause greater than many national championships. Untold numbers of lives have been made better from his influence. It was the work of God in his life. And was it fair?

Well if we could ask Jimmy today, I believe he would say, “My life was blessed.”