How many of you have at least been asked to enter a pool for this year's NCAA tourney? You don't even need a 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon formula for this one I bet... Thus begins the annual office chat of, "who you got?" Let me describe to you a few of the "characters" that tend to surface this time of year and then I promise you, we will arrive at our desired destination of discovering God in all of this...

The characters:
"Mr./Ms. Offer it up"- They walk by and offer you their picks whether you care or not... And often, you don't...

"Mr./Ms. I could care less"- They find this time of year utterly pointless and think basketball is boring anyway... or else they are hockey fans.

"Mr./Ms. How many you got"- they come around finding out how many you got right in an attempt to not be the one that got the least right... "I got 12 in the first day...!"

"Mr./Ms. If only"- You know them... they are constantly living in second-guess land... If only I had chosen Arizona! If only gets you nowhere but on the bench my friends.

"Mr./Ms. My Bracket is Done"- These are the fatalists who give up the first time that one of their final four teams loses... And they will keep reminding you round, after round, after round...

And finally- "Mr./Ms. I just picked them because they had cool names and I win every year..." No matter how much analysis you do, inevitably it is the person who knows the least about college bball or their son/daughter/nephew who picked for them, that wins.

The funny thing is, we often find ourselves in conversations with people that we don't know or know only marginally this time of year. Why? Because we have a common thread... I think the challenge is for us Christians to have that kind of boldness at the office to share a greater message, pool or no pool... Romans 1:16, "For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes..." So have fun with your pools, but remember that there is a better office conversation that brings more life to be had... And what better in-road than, "How you doing in your pool...?"

Mr. I never win anyway Mark Brandt