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Pursue the Things of God with the Zeal of an Olympian
Along with millions of others, I watched the 2022 Winter Olympics. For three weeks I enjoyed sports that I have never previously shown much interest in and learned new terms like nose butter, dropping in, superpipe, one-foot-steps, and twizzles. The olympics are beautiful because human exploits reveal the image of our creator God who made the athletes’ bodies and minds to achieve incredible feats. I admired their skill and gasped at their daring speed and bravery, but it was their fortitude, ambition, endurance, and drive that really captured my attention. Because I am nothing like them. Especially in the physical realm. I delay my exercise. I avoid sweating. And when…
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A Lesson from the Olympics
Mo Farah, 33, said he thought his Rio 2016 Olympics "dream was over." This member of the Great Britain team was defending champ (London, 2012) of the 10,000m event, and he had every reason to believe he could win it again—until he tripped on his training partner and fell on the track. But rather than give up, Farah did something remarkable. He jumped back to his feet. And he didn’t just prove he could get up and make it to the finish line. No—he took off and ran for 16 more laps and pressed on to won the gold! The apostle Paul uses a running metaphor for the Christian faith…
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Bode Miller and Grief
Watching the Olympic Super-G last night the commentators were focused on Bode Miller as the last few skiers bumped him from the Gold. After the race, the interviewer quickly breezed by the Silver Medalist to Miller. She noticed some deep emotion and began to probe. Something significant was going on and she noticed. Kudos for that. She then asked questions and never let him answer. The moment and her questions were triggering something much deeper but his processing was cut short by more words. (Photo courtesy of USA Today, (NBC Screenshot)) Maybe Miller's emotion caught her off guard. Maybe the fact that he was speechless, overwhelmed by emotion and grief…
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OIympic-Sized “I Infections”
As the 2014 Olympics continue to unfold, televised by the NBC sports team, anchorman Bob Costa’s very public battle with a nasty eye infection continues to be as hot a topic of conversation as which Americans are winning medals. Now both eyes are red, swollen, and painful-looking. As they say here in Texas, bless his heart! If the spiritual dimension of life were made visible in the physical realm, most of us would be walking around looking like Bob Costa. His eyeball is inflamed and infected, interfering with his vision and affecting the way people see him. It’s a startling picture of our warped and diseased perception through which we…
