I am a basketball fan and do get excited when the college basketball tournament comes around each March.

This is a single-elimination tournament, which means if you lose one game you are out of the tournament. If you lose, even by one point, your season is over and you just get to watch from the sidelines as other teams advance.

I’m sure there are a lot of disappointments, players and coaches thinking that if they would have better prepared or would have made different decisions then things might have turned out differently.

The truth of the matter is, most of the teams and players never got a chance to be this year’s champion, and there is no opportunity for a second chance this year.

As I was thinking about this, I realized that this great disappointment doesn’t have to apply in the spiritual realm.

The Scripture states that we are all born losers. Romans 3:23 says, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

The good news is that we can all be winners, no matter what we have done or what sins we have committed.

Even if we walk away from God, like the story of the prodigal son, the Lord is waiting with open arms to receive us back.

God actually will give us a second chance and a third and so forth.

In 1 John 1:9, we are told that "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."