Olympic lessons

Have you been watching the Olympics at all?  I’ve not seen as much as I’d like but what I have saw, what great lessons in them. For example, I noticed recently the world’s fastest man, Usain Bolt from Jamaica, was being interviewed by a Spanish reporter and he  interrupted her questions and asked her to refrain until our national anthem ended, out of respect for our nation and the athlete being honored at that moment.  Paul wrote that we should give “honor to whom honor” is due “(Rom.13:7) !  We should always treat one another with respect, even if we disagree.

Then there was the South African runner, Oscar Pistorius, who had the birth defect which led his feet to have to be amputated but he would not “stay down” and he actually made it to the semifinal of his event and ran on artificial feet !!  How remarkable. The next time you are tempted to think “I can’t”,  just remember if a guy can make it that far with no feet, how far you can make it in faith with an all-powerful Savior. You can do all things through Christ (Phil.4:13) !

And what about the most prolific medal winner of the modern Olympics, Michael Phelps, who could’ve padded his medal count but instead gave up his spot to race so that a teammate who had never won a medal had that opportunity?   “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.” (Phil.2:3) comes to mind.  What is an earthly medal, really, in comparison to a kind or selfless act we do in the name of our Lord?  Most of us will never even win a  medal of our nation but we can win trophies of grace for our King, even by the simple day to day niceities we do for each other !  So, today YOUR event is on — go out there and “medal” !!