The Olympian

So now that the Olympics are over, we can go back to forgetting all about those people we got to know for two-plus weeks until 2014. I'm always surprised how I get pulled into sporting events and games that I completely ignore for 4 years, save those 2 weeks they get high profile during Olympics. During these times we get an in depth, up close look at the athletes' lives and training for this one, special time. We're told that they've trained their whole lives for this chance at Olympic glory, to live forever in our hearts and minds and in the record books. They of course, have other competitions that they earn their living at, but this is the Olympics.

We root for people we've never heard of because they wear our flag on their back. We root against people we've never heard of because we don't like what the president/dictator/military of their homeland did in the past. Strangely, we're really only rooting for the place we were born, through no decision of our own, and we're forever rooted there. In each competition there's a winner who gets to climb the podium and hear his or her national anthem. The glory of victory lasts forever.

Right?

Who was the men's polevault winner in 2000? Can't remember? Maybe you need something more recent and prominent. Who won the women's figure skating gold in 2006? Google it and you'll know, but is that glory? I say no. Sports glory lasts as long as the national anthem of the winner. Maybe even as long as the offseason. Short lived for sure.

There is a kind of glory that lasts for much longer. You could say it is truly a lasting glory that Olympians strive for, but slips through their hands like sand. The Olympian is God, and his glory has no end. His victory is over the power of Hell, and he stands atop the podium to hear his anthem. "He doesn't have an anthem" you might say, but surely he does. It goes like this "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come" and continues "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being." (Revelation 4) But the anthem doesn't end, and it's not a recording that repeats. The anthem is sung by the creatures God himself created, and they sing it not because they are forced or coerced, they do it because they feel compelled to and have no other way to express their feelings. God never tires of this expression, and neither does his creation.

God is The Olympian who receives the eternal glory that athletes strive for.

If I really believed

I was reading Oswald Chambers' My Utmost For His Highest yesterday and the reading struck me and I had 5 minutes to think about it and came up with this. Thought I'd share it with you.
Joshua 24:19 "You cannot serve the Lord"
Oswald wrote "If we really believed that God meant what he said- what should we be like?"

My response:
If I really believed God,

1. I would not worry about finances or budgets
2. I would work hard 100% of the time at my job and not be upset about recognition
3. My children would ask more about Him because I'd always talk about Him
4. I'd read more of the Bible because I would want to know Him more
5. He would be my first impulse to consult in a tight spot
6. I'd talk, work, think, drive and do things differently- more reverently; with an eye towards glorifying Him
7. People wouldn't think I was "just a nice guy" because they would be told I was shaped by Him, not of myself
8. I wouldn't rely on my intelligence, education, etc to get me through things- I'd rely on Him with humility
9. My friendships, marriage and relations with other people would be better because I would be more humble and servantlike
10. Peace would be my beggining point each day instead of variable along the stress spectrum
11. I'd talk to Him more, and listen to Him more
12. I would have more turmoil in my life because He would refine me through that, but I could handle it better

How great a life like this could be. Who wouldn't love peace of that level? The irony is; that the harder we strive for this on our own, the further we push it away- like a ball floating in a pool. If I reach for God, He will pull me and the ball toward Himself. We get the ball by gowing toward Him, with His help.

How is your swimming?

-E

Some thoughts

So, the polls have closed and it's kind of clear that what's going on in our lives is what people want us to post about, and maybe not commentary, but guess what you're gonna get....

When we got the first screening results fo DS about a month ago that gave us a higher risk, I was stunned. I of course spent the next few hours researching DS screening, DS and anything else that I could find to figure out what we were dealing with. I prayed to God. I prayed for acceptance of His will in our lives. I didn't pray for my baby to be healed, or that he wouldn't have this problem, just that we would accept whatever God gave us and be content. After talking with some friends and with Natalie, I realized it was ok to ask for healing (duh!) and have been praying continuously for our boy to be healed of his heart defect and for him to not have DS. The example of David asking God for the punishment of his sin with Bathsheba to be given to him and not Israel showed me that God can be moved even when he has made a judgement. There are a ton of examples in the Bible that show the effectiveness of prayer, somehow in the recognition of God's sovereignty I forget that He allows us to ask of Him and receive from Him. Sovereign but loving and responsive, my God.

This idea of "praying without ceasing" has always eluded me, but not this week. To me it was waking with a song of praise in my heart, even the morning after hearing very worrisome news about our baby. It has been going about my business with my mind focused on how BIG God is; seeing Him in everything. It has been keeping an open dialogue all day with God, like I was talking to Him, our conversation paused while I did some aspect of my job that required focus, then picked up the conversation where we left off. It has been knowing that He is watching, listening, caring, supporting and comforting me in all that I do. I have never felt this at peace with my life before, and this is a time when people without the Lord would be fretting the most. (Isn't it strange that we run to the Lord when things are "out of our control" but we sometimes are not as close when things are "as they should be"?) I know that the God who created the heavens and earth, who flooded His creation, who parted the sea- twice, who sent His Son from heaven to earth, who ascended from the depths of hell to His throne, is intimately involved in my life- and He can heal our child if He desires. I ask this of Him in every breath, and I realize that if He ultimately chooses not to He will be correct in His decision, and every need that we have in raising our baby will be met. This is the comfort that I have: the Creator will sustain me.

Isaiah sums up how I am feeling like this:
But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (40:31)

Ultimately what matters is that we show our boy his need for the Lord's provision of salvation, and that the Lord draws him into His family so that He can renew his strength. So in that same breath of begging the Lord for healing, I should be pleading for our sons' salvation, because a physical ailment is temporal, and salvation is eternal.

Please join me in these prayers to the Lord.