“The legend of Trevor Lawrence has only just begun”

Clemson routed Alabama last night to win its second national title in three years. I’ve been watching college football for fifty years and have never seen a performance like the game their quarterback played.

Trevor Lawrence, a nineteen-year-old freshman, was named the Most Valuable Player. He is already being hailed as a once-in-a-generation talent. Now, after a performance for the ages, ESPN tells us this morning that “the legend of Trevor Lawrence has only just begun.”

The best part of the story isn’t the part that’s making headlines today.

When Lawrence was named Clemson’s starting quarterback last September, reporters asked how he stays so calm during games. “That’s just always my personality,” he explained. “Football’s important to me, but it’s not my life. It’s not the biggest thing in my life. I would say my faith is.”

He added: “I put my identity in what Christ says, who He thinks I am and who I know that He says I am.”

“Share a nanosecond of celebration”

There’s always more good news than makes the news.

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof agrees. The title of his latest article makes his point: “Why 2018 Was the Best Year in Human History!”

Kristof claims that the world’s population is living longer and better than ever before. For instance, each day on average:

• 295,000 people gain access to electricity for the first time.
• 305,000 people are able to access clean drinking water for the first time.
• 620,000 people are able to get online for the first time.
• Only about 4 percent of children worldwide die by the age of five, down from 19 percent in 1960.
• Fewer than 10 percent of the world’s population live in extreme poverty, down from more than 50 percent in the 1950s.

He concludes: “Never before has such a large portion of humanity been literate, enjoyed a middle-class cushion, lived such long lives . . . or been confident that their children would survive. Let’s hit pause on our…