Monday, August 11, 2008

The Race

Monday, August 11, 2008 - 1:20pm

Last night - 10pm. Jackie and I talk of turning off the olympics and quitting for the day.

Decision: watch a bit more. :)

10:24pm - up and off the couch, hands in the air, jumps & shouts of triumph. Laughter. Can-you-believe-it?
...over and over again.

We and a billion others had just witnessed a spectacular race. Fronted by some brash words about who was going to win. And anchored by "a 32-year old turned into a dolphin." Each down stroke on the last yards "seemed to propel him up out of the water."

Over and over the network played the last touch...fingers of two men reaching for the wall. Over and over they showed Michael Phelps and teamate celebrating - with prolonged screams of joy and boyishly abandoned gestures.

Ask in years to come, and we'll all probably remember - the race.

I offer to you a few simple thoughts that come as I ponder the race.

Here they are:

1. Give it your best...till the race is really over.
The winning touch on the wall was just 8/10ths of one second sooner than the second.
Paul reached for his "wall" with this determination..."I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

2. Don't think within: too late, too old, not enough talent to do that.
And now the name of that last swimmer: Jason Lezak - ever heard that name before? Not I.

3. Let the "enemy's" taunts turn you into doing your best.
Don't cave in to negative talk and any other techniques from the camp of defeat. Let that stuff embolden you to go even harder for Christ.

4. Team it
There is synergy always in team. There's more joy in team. There's more hope in team. There is more faith in team. That is why from the start, Jesus has always been putting people together on task, in teams.

So go for the gold...your gold...presented to you some day by Jesus Himself.

Ah, now that's a race indeed.

Selah...

Dave

1 comment:

Micah said...

Great words, Dad. In fact, I have been passing this blog site around so often that our Battalion Chaplain got word of it. Every time you add a blog it is printed off and hung on the chapel board. You are speaking to lives all the way in Afghanistan. Thanks. Love ya!
Micah