A few months ago, Rick Riley wrote an article titled “Hope” that was about a high-school football game Rick Riley wrote about recently. It was the Grapevine Faith “Lions” versus the Gainesville State “Tornadoes” and everything about it was upside down. 

When Tornadoes took the field, the Lions fans made a 40-yard “spirit line” for them to run through. They even made a banner for players to crash through at the end. It said, "Go Tornadoes!" 

As if that was not weird enough, more than 200 Lions fans sat on the Tornado side and cheered them on…by name. Tornado QB, Isaiah said, "I never in my life thought I'd hear people cheering for us."

Even though the Lions clobbered them, the Tornado kids were so happy that after the game they gave their head coach a Gatorade shower like they’d just won a championship. But then as soon as the game was over, uniformed officers escorting the Tornado players handcuffed to the team bus. The Gainesville Tornados were from a maximum-security correctional facility.

The Lion’s head coach, Kris Hogan, wanted to do something kind for the Tornado team. He planned for half of their team’s fans—for one night only—to cheer for the other team. He sent out an email to the Lions Faithful saying: "Here's the message I want you to send: You are just as valuable as any other person on planet Earth."

Because of the opposing coach, the Tornadoes were turning around on their bench to see something they never had before. Hundreds of fans and even cheerleaders cheering FOR them and not AGAINST them. "I thought maybe they were confused," said a Tornados lineman. "They started yelling 'DEE-fense!' when their team had the ball. I thought, Why are they cheering for us? You know, we can tell people are afraid of us when we come to the games. They look at us like we are only criminals. But these people, they were yelling for us! By our names!"

As the Tornadoes walked back to their bus under armed-guard, they each were handed a bag for the ride home—with a burger, fries, soda, candy, a Bible and an encouraging letter from a Lions player. And as the bus pulled away, all the Tornados players crammed to one side and pressed their hands to the window, staring at these people they'd never met before as they waved and smiled goodbye.  

Why is this such a good story?  Because it is shockingly caring and because it is so upside-down from how the world usually works. Fans for the opposing team don’t cheer for you. Criminals aren’t given presents and treated as if they are cherished guests. This story is the inverted land of grace, where what is deserved is not given and what is given is better than what was hoped for.

Imagine what it would look like if our churches, community groups, and friendships were so filled with this kind of grace.