The Olympics and discipline

I get excited about the Winter Olympics.

So for the last few days, I've been on cloud 9. There are a couple of things about the Winter Olympics that I really like.

First, they happen during the winter... when the weather is no good outside... there's no grass to mow... or other things to keep me out of the house. So I can spend some extra time watching the games guilt-free that I should be doing something else.

Second, I love a lot of the winter olympic sports... I love the snowboarding (Shaun White), snowboard cross, downhill skiing (Lindsey Vohn), hockey, speed skating (Apolo Ohno), biathlon, luge and bobsled. (Just for the record... can't stand figure skating... ick!)

Third, because I ski and pretend to be athletic on the slopes, I enjoy these sports a little bit more because I feel a connection to them.

So I've been living high the last couple of days.

But as I watch these games, and so far, the competition has been really good. I keep thinking about discipline. These guys and girls make it look so easy. They make it look like they are having an absolute blast... which I'm sure they are. But they make it look effortless.

It, however, is nothing near easy or effortless.

These athletes have devoted all their energy and in many cases this lifetime to these games. They have worked, sacrificed, trained, learned, failed, fallen down, worked harder, got back up again, tried again and succeeded. And some of them come to these games and fail to win what they have sought so much.

It made me think of Paul's words... "¹²Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. " Philippians 3:12-14, NIV

What are you striving for and pressing on toward?

"²⁴Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. ²⁵Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. ²⁶Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. ²⁷No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, NIV

What are you training for?

Jim