Going for the Gold!

Have you found yourself caught up in the Olympic frenzy? Me too. Typically I’m not all that fond of the summer version – too much blasted exertion of energy for my taste - I prefer sliding on snow. But to date in this year’s presentation there sure has been a whole heaping bunch of excitement coming to us over a 19 day time span at a world record setting pace.

I can only imagine the amount of salivation that swimming coaches, gymnastics instructors and Tae-Kwon-do senseis must have dripping from their chins as they contemplate all those new “paying customers” their classes will be packed with in the coming weeks and months. Unfortunately for the track and field aficionados, I'm afraid your season is too far off for the limited attention span of most youngsters. But after seeing all the glory bestowed upon a select handful of new heroes on Beijing’s big stage, who right now isn’t thinking they wouldn’t want to be the next Michael Phelps or Dara Torres, Nastia Luiken, Shawn Johnson, or a serious butt-kicker like one of the Lopez clan? (Obviously, I must be a U.S.Aian.)

The truth of the matter is though, there are more than 10,000 athletes participating in 38 different competition categories and…lets see, how many of those people ever actually win a medal? And what about all those qualifying heats? Wouldn’t that just be disappointment bordering on the indescribable to spend all that time, effort and energy training in an event and not even get to compete for one of the prizes? Incidentally a significant number of the more than 200 nations that have sent teams to Beijing this year, or any other Olympic venue, has ever won a single medal for their countries. But those statistics aren’t the scintillating ones are they? Nevertheless, we certainly do love our sports don’t we?

Of course competition is at the core of most everything that comprises life in these United States and I don’t think I need to spell out how early in a person’s life each of us begins to learn the significance of being a winner. I’m sure you’ve heard the adage that “second place is just the first loser.” In the runner up category though, where most of us actually find ourselves, we’re regularly placated into believing that even if you can’t be the “star,” then when the team does well we’re all winners, right? Or, even if you didn’t get picked to play on the winning team, maybe you’ve found reciting the mantra “it’s an honor just to be able to play the game” has been good enough.

This might have a lot to do with why you see so much compartmentalizing in the lives of many people. You do know what that is, don’t you? It’s one of those coping mechanisms we all employ in an effort to keep things in some semblance of order. (I guess it helps us feel like, regardless of the reality, that we still have a chance at winning.) We regularly go about opening and closing little parts of our brains over the course of a given day just because what we may truly believe seems to be in temporary conflict with what we’re presently being faced with. As such what we’ve really been doing most of our life is not competing but developing various little compartments of compromise. And I wonder just how much compromise has to take place before what we actually believe in is compromise for the sake of compromise (i.e. diplomacy)? By the way, how are you really doing in the whole politically correct arena?

In lieu of this there are really a couple of "hard-to-compromise" quotes from Jesus that every professing Christian has to contend with. This first one is actually written down in three of the gospel accounts, but for my purposes I’ve chosen the New Living Translation version of Matthew’s gospel where in chapter 16 it reads,

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. 25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? 27 For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds.

This other challenging quote of Jesus happens only to be found in Matthew’s gospel (I think this is still pretty significant in as much as Matthew was one of Christ’s apostles.) This one in chapter 7 goes,

21 “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’

So, just how does the temporal importance of any Olympic athlete, corporate CEO, Rhodes Scholar or political candidate factor in to an equation like this? Maybe you don’t believe that Jesus Christ has earned the right to be the M.I.P. (Most Important Person), your biggest hero, and the focus of all of your attention. If so, then I’d honestly like to know who would you really want to be like?

However if you are cognizant that Jesus deserves to be at the center of your life each and every moment of every day then take a quick glance at a particularly “Olympic-esqe” reference found in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. And while you have that Bible in your hands, for a little dessert, flip over to Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Begin in chapter 3 at verse 12 and just keep reading until you've had your fill. And for more information on these and other like topics, click on either version you prefer of "@ the Rock Shop" or I’d certainly invite you to visit a Bible teaching church near you. (It'll probably seem really weird to go to one of these the first time or two - but I'll double your money back if the roof actually does fall in on top of you.) And just so they'll all feel as uncomfortable as you do - be sure to wear a nice Hawaiian shirt, cut-off shorts, and no socks. Tell 'em I sent you!

Ever yours regardlessly,

mike