| Michael Phelps held his arms aloft on Sunday after surpassing Mark Spitz as the most successful swimmer and Olympian of all time, relief written on his face after he won an unprecedented eighth gold at one Games.
[…] Phelps hugged his team mates after a world record-breaking 4×100 meters medley relay win, a relatively comfortable race compared to two finger-tip finishes in Beijing. […] Constantina Tomescu had time to relax and wave as she entered the Bird’s Nest stadium to claim a surprise win in the women’s marathon that began in Tiananmen Square. […] The furious chief of Greece’s Olympic Committee told Reuters the “golden girl” of the Athens Games should have stayed home instead of dragging the country’s name through the mud. […] The U.S. team got some cheer when the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, put their tennis singles disappointment behind them to pick up a second consecutive gold in the doubles. […] After firing at the wrong target in Athens, a nervous Emmons this time squandered a huge 3.3-point lead on his final shot when he pulled the trigger by mistake while lining up, to register a mere 4.4 after scores mostly above 10 before that. |
Those paragraphs have elements that so clearly show what life is.
And what Christianity is.
- Even the strong fail.
- Only the overcomers are rewarded.
- Get up and try again.
- We’re in this together.
- It’s not just about you.
- The little things can make a huge difference.
There are more, of course, but I have to move to other things, of course.
Tonight is our monthly Hymn Sing at church. I’m supposed to have a brief devotional. I think I’ll talk a little about some of these Olympians. And the life lessons for the Christian.
Like this one:
| Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (King James Version) |