Going for gold... or not

“At the Olympics they have a yellow line moving along with the swimmers which represents the world record...  I don’t want to know the best thing that’s ever happened…. I want to see an average Joe come out of the stands and perform so we can see; this is what an average person would do so I can appreciate what these Olympic athletes are doing.  Even the worst Olympic athlete blows the average person out of the water.  You’re watching this event and you’re like ‘oh that dude screwed up, you’re such a loser.  Every four years you get a chance and you blew it sucker!’ but the fact is if I was in pool I would be in the middle of the pool asking for help and yelling for rescue… let alone trying to do the butterfly.”
 

About a month ago my family went down bad with a nasty cold virus.  It was a sucky five days and the only relief we had was the 24 hour broadcast of the Olympic Games.  I have never seen so much weightlifting in my life and even after wikipedia’ing it I’m still not sure on the rules for Judo.  It was incredible to watch what people are physically capable of doing if they work hard enough at it.   The athletes are also a sobering reminder to me of what I don’t achieve physically because let’s face it; I’m just too lazy to put in the training hours.  So I comforted myself with the thought that there was a genetic element involved too; these people are the top in the world partly because God has gifted them with bodies built to be physically superior to the rest of us.  

And then the Paralympics started.  Well this just made me feel worse!  I realized that if you put ‘average Joe’ me in a swimming pool against one of the Paralympians they too would easily kick my butt!!   

These athletes either don’t have all their limbs or the use of their limbs but what they achieve with the little they have been given truly humbles me and makes me realize just how ungrateful I am for the health and mobility I enjoy every day and worse – abuse and neglect every day.  They are more the law to me than the able bodied Olympians because I suddenly realize I have no excuse for my laziness and ungratefulness.

It is only when my mouth is stopped from making excuses that I can finally appreciate that God continues to give me life and breath and forgiveness daily, not because I earned the right to it by making the most of what He has given me, but because I haven’t yet He is full of grace and mercy.

For another article on Olympians being law to us - click here.