His middle name really isn't RaeQuan. Its actually Jose. Any-who, the middle name isn't that all important.
The reasons I love Tyler are important.
Tyler is one of my best friends. Beside Mark, he is the only friend I met before high school that I am still very close with. Our friendship began quoting Billy Madison while we rode the pine at one of our youth baseball games. The rest is history. We played football and basketball together throughout high school. He is one of those guys that you love to compete alongside. He is one of the fiercest competitors I know. Hand grenades, horseshoes, Chinese Checkers. It doesn't freakin matter. If hes playing, he wants to win. In the famous words of Gregg Nesbitt, "Men, this guy just loves to bleepin compete!" To put it simply, if I'm picking teams for anything, my first round pick is Tyler. In fact now that I think of it, before anyone else speaks up, dibs on Funk for football and b-ball when we all finally make it to heaven.
Once again, I don't even know where to begin with this guy. I guess I will start with this: dang was he fun to have as a teammate. He was fiery and played with an edge. Most opposing players hated him because he had an unnerving confidence about him. He was always up for a challenge. He was never intimidated by anyone. He didn't mind talking a little trash. And he loved--and I mean loved--celebrating. Letting his emotions get the best of him when something great happened. He would jump and jitter, laugh and yell all at once. And it was fun. I think I liked playing alongside him so much because we were so alike. We competed in the exact same manner. It was a blast having a teammate that played the same way you did.
When I would complete a long ball to him we would go bananas. Side bumps. Fist pumps. All of the above.
Now I know, some of you are gagging about this whole thing. Some of you are muttering under your breath about how this has nothing to with Jesus. Or maybe you're saying that my theology is off. I'll first politely to tell you to kiss my ass. Second, I'll politely ask you to keep reading.
First, you must know. In regards to basketball, Tyler is an underdog. He's a 6 foot 1 white point guard. He's quick but not overly fast. He can dunk, but he's not going to cross over and mash over someone for a salty poster. But there are two things he will do: He will defend, and he will play with tremendous effort. Actually he will play with obnoxious effort. The kind of effort that pisses the other guy off about 45 seconds into the game.
My senior year we played Grandview. They are an extremely talented school in KC. Grandview had a player by the name of Alec Burks. He was a legit Division 1 ball player. For more info on Mr.Burks, click here. Anyway, Burks had averaged around 28 points per game coming into our contest. Now we always put Tyler on their best player. Needless to say, he had Burks. Long story short, he held Burks to a mere 8 points. We love hearing stories like that. They put pictures and meaning to the Story we all love. That Story is the fairy tale we call the gospel. Now on paper the gospel makes little sense; it seems impossible. Sure Jesus existed. There are countless pieces of historical proof for that. Sure he was killed brutally; plenty of historical evidence for that as well. But rise from the dead 3 days later? No way that happened... When you die, you die.. that's it. That's just 'how things work.' But then again, Tyler Funk guarding Alec Burks doesn't look real good on paper... Before they pulled out 3 trick plays, Boise State beating Oklahoma in the 2007 fiesta bowl didn't sound too good either...That is interesting. Or what about the 1983 basketball season for NC State? I suppose winning 7 of your last 9 games after trailing in the final minute doesn't seem to make much sense on paper. NC State went on to win the '83 title game against a Houston team that was completely superior to them in every facet of the game. Every. Facet.
Except one. Heart. Heart defies logic and science. Why else does the 12 beat the 5 seed? Why else do almost all the stories and movies we love involve someone overcoming some 'impossible' task? It's because these stories and movies are echoes from The Story. They stir up our hearts because at their core they are true. They are the gospel. Just because science can't logically explain it, doesn't mean it never happened, or for that matter couldn't happen. Our world is full of examples that prove science can only go so far. Somethings, you just can't explain with facts or logic.
I imagine Burks laughed to himself when he first saw this poor little Kearney kid about to defend him. But the weight and strength of Funk's heart changed the game. His heart defied the 'logic' of only the strong surviving. His heart erased the automatic superiority of Burks on paper. Christ also defied the logic and science behind death. His fierce, noble, and passionate heart erased the 'superiority' of death once and for all. This is one of the reasons why we feel so crushed and devastated when we lose someone we love to death. It's because death is NOT natural. Our hearts, at some level, refuse to believe and accept the loss of loved ones no matter our beliefs. (more on this in another post)
In terms of football, Tyler was a receiver. And man he loved making plays down field. I loved throwing to him. If there was ever a 50/50 ball, you'd be one smart man to bet that Funk was comin down with it. Like Mark, He allowed me to play with ridiculous confidence. If I underthrew the football, he would make a play for me. If I over threw it, he would launch his body through the air and snag it. Essentially, if I was ever wrong, he made me right. I find myself messing up frequently in life. When I am wrong though, Jesus is always there to make me right.
One final story. The best one. In a past post, I said that every good moment you have ever loved, has been sent personally to your heart from God Himself. I believe our favorite memories and golden moments are tiny glimpses or previews of what heaven will be like. Tyler was a part of my one of my own golden moments, one of my favorite moments in my life. It was my senior basketball season and we were playing Hickman Mills in the quarterfinals. Winner got a ticket to Mizzou for the final four. Hickman Mills had just blistered us by about 30 at home two weeks before our quarterfinal match-up. We had no business being the game. But somehow, with less than a minute left we found ourselves leading by 1 point. Hickman Mills had the ball. They were going to take the last shot. Now, the only reason we were in the game (or any game for that matter) was our collective effort on defense. And now we had to make one last stand, one stop. Keep in mind, we take great pride in our defense at Kearney. I honestly don't even remember the play, but they got a solid look and missed, and we tipped the ball to the other side of the court as time expired. We sealed the deal and won the game 34-33. It was pandemonium. Absolute chaos. We were going nuts.
That is what heaven will feel like. A victory that we have no business tasting, but we will anyway. A hard fought victory in which many times we screwed up, made plenty of mistakes. But in the end, we will win and that's all that matters.
While the below pictures were being taken, I think we both said 'I love you man' and 'We did it.' about 17 times each. Tyler gave me a preview to the kind of utter joy and excitement I will get when I finally hug Jesus for the first time. His heart is a lot like Jesus', and he gave me a glimpse of what life to the fullest in heaven will be. That's why I love him.
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