Does anger have a place in the sporting world?

Does anger have a place in the sporting world? It most certainly is there. Some coaches routinely use anger to motivate. Often anger is an unplanned response to circumstances that arise. In these circumstances anger can be ugly, mean and frequently violent. So it’s not surprising that growing Christian athletes try to avoid anger.

But remember, Jesus Himself displayed anger at times. Lashing out at the religious hypocrites and literally lashing out on those that turned His Father’s house into a “den of thieves”. The Bible tells us in Ephesians 4 to be angry, but do not let the sun go down on that anger...meaning not to foster it in our hearts. There are several other passages though that instruct us to turn away from anger. So the reality is that anger is a delicate emotional balancing act.

Years ago I was watching a MN Twins game from center field. A Yankee homerun was followed by the slowest ever trot around the bases. When this hitter came back up in the rotation the catcher called a brush back pitch. I can’t remember if the pitch hit the batter but there were very intense, angry words spoken between the catcher and this hitter which soon evolved into the inevitable baseball bench clearing brawl. The next day I was talking to my good friend who was the chaplain for the team and the personal spiritual mentor for that catcher, Brian Harper, a very solid Christian. Tom relayed to me that before “Harp” called that pitch...he prayed. Prayed for wisdom and the ability to make the right call.

Sometimes in sport anger and retribution do have a place, but they must be controlled and calculated. When one loses emotional control that’s when sin rushes through a very wide open door. Whether you’re a coach that wants to move players to a new level or simply an athlete reacting to the moment, anger can be a powerful tool if it’s contained and used deliberately.

It’s a good thing that Galatians 5.22-23 tells us that one of the fruits of the Spirit is SELF-CONTROL. In emotional times we certainly need to walk with God and let Him empower us to do the right thing for the need of the moment.

Are You Seeing God?

What is the main thing in life? I’ll admit I easily get sidetracked. Living in such a cool place and pursuing amazing sports as I do in triathlon, skimo and xc ski racing, there is a constant battle for my heart’s affection. But that main thing is knowing Christ. KNOWING CHRIST. That’s it. By far the most significant reason for our being created and put on this planet.


And central to this pursuit is the reading of the Bible. God’s word to us. Words of power, truth, revelations of who God is and promises to us, His kids.


In his book, “When I Don’t Desire God”, John Piper relates that the fundamental reason that the word of God is essential to joy in God is that God reveals Himself mainly by his word.  In 1 Samuel 3.21, it says, “The Lord appeared,” but God was seen not with eyes in the head but with the eyes of the heart. It further says, “This happened by the word of the Lord.”  So as the word was heard, the Lord was seen. In reading, there was seeing...the Lord was seen. And this is why reading of the Bible is so critical to our pursuit of God.


The first guy I ever mentored in my first ministry assignment at MI Tech was all star QB David Walters. I clearly remember him telling me about his new found faith and that it would be so much easier if God would just appear and in an audible voice show Himself. Since this was over 30 years ago my memory of my rookie ministry advice is a little hazy, but for sure I’d tell him this... God HAS appeared and clearly revealed Himself... let’s start reading!

CHAPLAIN: EMOTIONAL AND SPIRITUAL SUPPORT

Because I’ve had several Sport Ministry people and sport chaplains ask me about my team talk, I decided to post it here in this blog. Use it however you please!!



When you hear the word "chaplain" I wonder what comes to mind? Maybe an old guy wearing a clerical church collar... of course if you know me at all, a sports chaplain, you know you're more likely to see me wearing Gore-Tex or Lycra!

The concept of a chaplain has been around for hundreds of years. It began as a military service and really came into prominence during World War I. Actually in World War II the chaplaincy unit sustained the second highest casualty rate second only to infantry. The reason for the high casualty rate, even though for the most part chaplains are unarmed non-combatants, is because chaplains are where the needs are. Whether that is in the foxholes, trenches, etc. The reason why we have military chaplains in the first place is because soldiers have unique needs and unique lifestyles. Athletes are very similar, they have unique needs and unique lifestyles, and that is why you’ll see sport chaplains trailside, trackside, in locker rooms and wherever the athletes and coaches are.

Let me share four ways a sport chaplain can be a resource to you:

1) A NEUTRAL LISTENING EAR
We all have a need at times to be heard...to have someone simply listen to us. It’s a bonus when that listening ear doesn’t have a stake in whether or not you make a team, competition trip or a starting line up. When you feel truly listened to it can feel awesome to know someone is simply a witness to the struggle and situation you’re dealing with. Plus, verbalizing what you’re going through can aid your own perspective of the situation.

2) HELP IN TIMES OF TRAGEDY
While we certainly hope that the worst of situations won’t happen to us or our teammates, life does happen and it can sometimes be very painful and tragic. Usually these times are not on our radar and can catch us off guard. Personally, I’ve been a part of the RCMP’s Victim Services Unit for well over ten years. We’re the ones that come alongside a police officer and help the loved one or victim deal with a personal tragedy. This can include practical helps (making sure immediate physical needs are met), helping someone take the next step (especially if they’re frozen in grief), or helping a grieving person deal with their pain, shock and unanswered questions. It’s important to know that everyone grieves in their own unique way. A chaplain can help facilitate and affirm one’s own grief process.

3) SPIRITUAL FORMATION
Everyone has a belief system, or you could call it a faith system..something that helps us understand and cope with life. Because athletes have these unique needs and unique lifestyles it’s difficult to have spiritual needs met in traditional ways. A chaplain can be a personal mentor, small group facilitator or prayer partner. A chaplain would never force their own personal belief system upon anyone but would provide a safe place for you to explore yours.

4) LIFE SKILLS FOR YOUR LIFE SKILLS TOOLBOX
It never hurts to have another voice guiding and advising when life throws a roadblock your way. Teamwork challenges, relational challenges, financial issues, the list goes on and on. Sometimes it’s nice to have someone share their perspective of your life and the current challenge you are facing to help you see clearly and deal with it successfully.

So there you have it, the four resources a sport chaplain can provide. For sure there are more, but undergirding all of these is the desire to be an emotional support for you. If you feel a need to have someone who is truly “in your corner” we want to be there for you to help you achieve personally and athletically to your full potential!

EXTENDED SUMMER

Here in Canmore summer is GONE. My kids are back at school as is my teacher wife...leaves are starting to show some color change and as we awake each day we check the thermometer to see if if it dipped below freezing. Not for me last week though. My big dog goal race for the year was the Ironman 70.3 triathlon in Santa Cruz California. A place that still has summer weather lingering.

I departed for the 25 hour drive the day after labor day chasing down my extended summer. As I drove down the street I realized I hadn't packed any long pants, a sure way of jinxing the whole endeavor, so I turned around and grabbed a pair. Fortunately I didn't use them until the very last day of the week long trip.
 

My home away from home...

In the weeks leading up to the adventure not only had I been training, but preparing my truck for a week of camping. I painted the truck and topper with bedliner Raptor. It didn't turn out as spectacular as I'd hoped but not too bad. I also had to replace my brakes and rotors (I cautiously did it myself). I also prepared my topper camper. It ended up being a nice cozy home. I later found out that the Santa Cruz hotels totally jacked up their rates for the event with a 1 night stay in a mediocre Super 8 coming in at almost 400 CAD. I was grateful for my 50$ RV park and the free rest stops along the way. Rest stops are noisy and lit up, but with super earplugs and blackout window coverings it was coseyville.

This race was my first time swimming in the ocean. Yes, sharks are present around the Monterey bay area, but you never hear about shark attacks so I practiced in the 2 days leading up to the race blissfully ignorant of their presence. I was aware of the barking sea lions though. Santa Cruz has a super long pier that we swam around for the race and these big noisy creatures hang out there on boat landings barking away. It was kinda cool.


Transition

As for salt water swimming, everyone told me that you are more buoyant and indeed my swim time though 3 minutes slower than I'd hoped was still one of my faster 1/2 Ironman swims. Race day was windy so as we swam further out from shore, it got really rough and wavy. I'm sure I would have made my 35 minute goal time had the water been a little smoother. But that water was COLD! I thought my Canmore quarry had toughened me up but (just as happens in the quarry) towards the end of the swim leg I definately was getting hypothermic. My form was totally falling apart and using my hands to remove my wetsuit and put on shoes for the 1/2 Km run to T1 was exceedingly difficult. When I finally got there my fingers had the hardest time securing the buckle on my bike helmet. With the long run to T1 I ended up with a excruciatingly slow 7.5 minute transition time.

Heading out onto the bike I just wanted to warm up. the first couple miles take you along the cliff overlooking the ocean with lots of tight turns to get you through town and onto the Pacific Coast Highway. It was probably the most spectacularly scenic bike I'd ever had (and later the run), but I rarely looked up. I'm a little sad that I'm so serious about these races because with my head down straining for every aero second I could gain, I missed a lot of cool scenery.

The ride out to the turnaround was WINDY!! Like really hard windy. We could see how fast the speedy pros were going on the return and couldn't wait to get to the turnaround and have the wind at our backs. I'm not sure if you ever really make up the time having the wind at your back that you lost fighting it on the way out, but I do know that we were flying. There were times when I wasn't sure how fast I was going but would realize that my legs were spinning in my highest gear, so we must have been rocking pretty fast!!

Transitioning into the run is always a challenge on your lower back muscles. Yet I've done enough tri racing to know that patience is your ally. Just wait long enough and those tight knotted muscles eventually loosen their grip. I passed a guy that wasn't patient and he'd stopped and was somehow trying to grip those knotting muscles into some kind of cooperation, but that is futile. Sure enough after a few miles the tightness eased and I could stretch out my stride.

My biggest concern on the run was surviving a hot day. It wasn't blisteringly hot, but it's hard to train for heat in Canmore and warm races have in the past been my undoing. Fortunately, I've also got some experience. Years ago during the Desert 70.3 tri in Osoyoos I found that dumping ice into my jersey acts as a core air conditioner. As my blood races to the ice around my mid section it cools then pumps to the rest of my body. It sounds a little crazy as the ice bouncing around sounds like a Maraca, but it is so worth it!

I may not be the smartest guy to begin with but when I race I get really stupid. For some reason my brain didn't compute the Km's to miles very accurately. Somehow I thought that a 70.3 tri run is 12 miles... so I really started ramping it up at mile 10. Eventually I remembered that a marathon is 26 miles and obviously 1/2 of that is 13....duh. I wasn't too broken though when I made that realization, partly because I simply dialed things back (though I think my fastest miles were still my closing ones-always a rewarding feeling) and I also relished all the cheering as well as the amazing scenery of the Pacific Ocean right below us.


Post-race watching surfers do their thing

For the finish you fly down this super steep roadway onto the beach. You go from the fastest running of the day to the slowest. Fortunately the beach section was short. It was so fun to finish, hear my name being called ("Steve Sellers from Canmore Alberta!!"). Though I knew my "sub 5 summer" fell short once again, I was so happy. Happy just to be there, to finish, to be able to push my body quite hard for just over 5 hours... I feel super blessed. I'm still not sure of my results. I'll have to look them up. Deb told me over the phone, but honestly, once a race is over I don't like to think about it too much. I'd rather get on to the next thing. I guess I did have a 25 hour drive to contemplate things, but I hardly thought about triathlon the whole way. I'm not sure what or any tri race I'll do next summer, but for now I'm getting a couple PRP shots tomorrow to hopefully cure some niggling injuries. I won't be able to train for a few weeks to let the shots do their work. that's ok as my bod probably needs a break anyway.

Post race run up to the top of Schweizer ski area in Sandpoint Idaho  

John 15.... What is a true Christian? How do you know for sure you indeed are a Christian?

2 questions up there...but the answer to each validates the other and answers the other. V.3 tells us of the grace introduction into salvation when Jesus said we are, “clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.”  Insert into this, “the word/message that you savingly believed.” Ok, so salvation by grace is preserved and intact. But now let’s answer q.#1: what is a true Christian? It’s all explained in this chapter, the one that abides in the vine. Christ of course being that vine.


If someone abides in the vine there are 2 clear results: fruitfulness, obedience and joy. Ok, I guess there are three. Abiding in that vine guarantees fruitfulness according to Jesus in v. 5, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing.” The other guarantee comes at the end and in the verse preceeding this one... “apart from me you can do nothing” & “the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in me”. Pretty straight up. We better make it our first priority to abide in Christ.


So exactly how does one abide in this fruit-producing vine (really an incredibly great privilege when you think about it)... obedience. V.10 instructs, “if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love; just as I have kept my father’s commandments, and abide in His love.” Since our salvation question is settled early on in this passage, saved by grace/forgiveness, then this obedience, which results in the extrordinary favor of abiding in the vine of the creator of the universe musts be what has been described as on-going sanctification. But there is way more than just a dutiful path in obedience leading to fruitfulness. And that is what is surprisingly uncovered v.11; and that is JOY.


Jesus tells his disciples & us that everything he has just said has as its outcome...joy. And not just any joy, it’s joy that is full and complete, “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy many be in you and that your joy may be made full.”  I personally don’t think I’ve ever found any earthly thing that could provide a joy that qualifies as perfect and complete. That doesn’t mean this has stopped me from trying. I find myself looking for joy in purchases, but the clothes  just get stains on them or go out of style. The electronic stuff eventually stops working (and I never bother to get the extended warranty because by then I’m bored with it anyway). Athletic achievement is so fleeting, usually other more gifted athletes come around and quickly deflate my “legend in my own mind” fantasy. On and on it goes. Why don’t I just abide in the vine, bear much fruit and in so doing glorify the Father and Jesus...and have great joy?



Finally, another incredible promise in this chapter. In verse 9 we’re told, “just as the father has loved me, I have also loved you; abide in my love.”  After reading this for the “I don’t how many times”, time, I find myself wondering, “why hasn’t this radically changed my life?”  I can’t even imagine how much love the Father has for the Son within the Trinity. But Jesus makes it magnificently clear that He loves us just that much. Huh? Did you hear that? The same love the Father has for His Son-Jesus, Jesus Himself loves us! No wonder Jesus said that all these promises result in our joy being made full. So it is love that unites Christians to Christ, just as branches are connected to a vine. Two results flow from this union, obedience and joy. Obedience leads to fruitfulness and joy is the ultimate result as we see God working in our lives and using us in His kingdom.



So how about our 2 questions up at the top. What is a true Christian? How do you know that you are a Christian? Perhaps these 3 things:
    1 you are abiding in Christ. Seeking this via the path of obedience
    2 as you abide, you become fruitful for God’s kingdom
    3 as a result of these you have great joy!


 I don’t know about you, but I want to pursue this with all my heart.

REJOICING & WEEPING WITH OTHERS

Romans 12.15 “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep”

Which would you rather do, rejoice or weep? Or maybe I should say, “which is easier, to rejoice or weep? Actually, it kinda depends. It’s easy to rejoice when your favorite sports team does good, but it can be a lot tougher to rejoice alongside a teammate that rocks it, but your performance was personally disappointing. So yes, weeping isn’t all that much fun, but in many circumstances it’s a lot easier to do (weeping with someone going through a tough time).

There’s a certain precept, I’ll call it the “jealousy factor”, that the closer you are to someone (especially when involved in the same endeavour) the easier it is to be jealous, and hence-tougher to rejoice with them. For example, maybe you’re  never tempted to be jealous when Canada super xc skier Alex Harvey does well in a world cup race. He’s so far out of your league,  but when the local provincial skier with whom you go back & forth in races over achieves in a race and really nails it, the jealousy factor can score pretty high on the envy meter.

The athlete pictured here totally breaks the jealousy factor mould. Gen Morrison is embracing her teammate that had just defeated her for the Olympic spot in their weight category for team Canada. Gen was sharing in her teammates joy, and her teammate was sharing in Gen’s sorrow. What a moment!

Going into the match Gen was the favourite coming off last summer’s PanAm gold medal and recent bronze medal at the world championships. The latter result was the one that gave Canada the Olympic berth in the first place, but Gen had to win that place back at these trials. Going into the match, she pretty much knew it would be close as these two trained daily together and totally knew the strengths, weaknesses, moods and ebbs and flows of each other on a day-to-day basis. This match was epic. It could have gone either way as both athletes entirely wrestled to their absolute potential, and they both were certainly aware of this.

How did the world view this? Did they think she was weak, especially in a sport where you have to be tough in so many ways? Realizing that for so many athletes reaching the Olympics is a life long dream that is the driving force in many a sport career. No, the moment, captured in this picture, was named the international 2015 wrestling highlight moment of the year (Gen was named the Female Canadian wrestler of the year also).

In the Romans 12 verse, the command is given in the context of a body of believers...a close body of believers. I’m sure potential jealousies existed everywhere among this tightknit group of Christians. But what a joy to have a community that could actually live this rejoicing and weeping out together.

It’s an old saying, but it really is true: “shared sorrow is ½ sorrow, but shared joy is double joy”

How cool could it be to genuinely rejoice with your teammates and competitors at the end of a contest no matter your personal result. You’ll be guaranteed a celebration. Proverbs 15.15 says: “...a cheerful heart has a continual feast.”   Now that’s the way to live!!

A TRIBUTE TO AN UNSUNG HERO

The world lost a great man just before Christmas. You’ve never heard of him. He was a  family friend. Although you may have benefited from his work at Billy Graham ministry. He ran the computers there. If you’ve ever received mail from BG or contacted them, you’ve benefited from his work.  Funny though, as personal computers came into our society, he never got one. His computer world consisted of antiquated memory tape and other historical technology.

He retired years ago and in retirement volunteered with his wife each winter at the Wycliffe ministry headquarters in Texas. In summers and fall they’d come to my parents apple orchard and just be busy helping out. They actually moved to the area because my parents were out there. That’s loyalty.

Every Christmas this couple would come to our family tree trimming party. Their presence was an important ritual even more important than the many other rigid festival rites that we performed at Christmas time. There were many other family gatherings that they often would be a part of. Since they never had children of their own I often felt like we were kind of their adopted kids.

One Christmas in the ‘70's that stands out to me was when they brought us gifts for each child consisting of Bibles, the Living Version. I still have mine.

One constant was that no matter what was going on, at a certain time very early in the evening, he would pull the plug and start getting ready to go home. The reason was that for him, his 4:30 A.M. personal Bible study and prayer time was the most important thing and he didn’t want to compromise that in any way.

That never changed either. For so many people their walks with God  have ups and downs, but for him year after year he never stopped that 4:30 A.M. wake up call. There must have a been a lot of mornings when he was tempted to keep on sleeping... but that’s my world not his.

I remember the Sunday I got ordained. Of course this couple was at the service and later at the  reception at my home. In the card he gave me there was an inspirational sentence he wrote in Greek, knowing that I’d just completed a lot study in this original New Testament language. You see he studied both Greek and Hebrew. Certainly not needed for any computer language, but if you’re a serious student of the Bible... well that’s just what you do.

Two summers ago we vacationed in Mn and I really wanted to make a point to visit this couple. I knew that the world wouldn’t blessed with his presence too much longer. He  was in his 90's and scheduled for a heart operation. In retirement that early morning wake up call came a bit later. I think he said somewhere around 6:30. Still earlier than a lot of people get up.

Sometime before Christmas that old heart with the implanted cow valve gave up. I guess you can’t be too sad, except maybe for his widow. How lonely it must be for her.  But, the reception in Heaven would have been glorious. All those mornings communing with the Saviour, now it’s face to face. The words, “well done, good and faithful servant” were most surely stated.

I’m sure his life wasn’t perfect. Every human has weaknesses and fallen nature battles, even our heros. Maybe that’s what makes them our heros. In their imperfection they keep fighting and don’t quit. For Duane Wriedt there is just one main thing that stands out to me, his unrelenting quest to go hard in knowing God. I don’t know anyone else personally that I can look to as an example of this. I guess they’re pretty rare. You can read biographies of people like William Carey and George Mueller, men known for their devotional lives. But these are just people I read about in books from a long time ago. To actually have a flesh and blood friendship with someone that has something you’d like to be like...that’s a gift.

Torches get passed, and our Saviour said that to whom much is given, much is required. I’ve been given a gift to have a real life example of what it’s like to go hard after God. Time to pick up the torch, keep it burning bright and pass it on to others.

Some Thoughts on Tragedy

With the news of the weekend's tragedy at the COP Bobsled track so many thoughts jumps into my head. In working with RCMP victim services I've come to view tragedies in light of being right in the midst of many of them.

My first thought is that victims come in many forms. Those that are directly impacted by the choices of others and those that are indirectly affected. The latter often don't see themselves as victims, but if you're emotionally distressed as a result of a tragic situation, then you're certainly a victim. There are many friends and colleagues of mine that train, compete, coach and service that track. Many of them are far away in Europe competing in world cups and world championships, yet from the tweets, etc. I can see that many are really hurting from the loss of life and terrible injuries that occurred yesterday on the ice track. Your emotions are real. Allow yourself as a victim to grieve. We all grieve in unique ways to our personalities. Whether it’s taking some time to pray, talk with someone or make some new life path choices, do what you need to do.

My second thought is more towards the families of the teens involved in the heinous crash. From what I’ve been seeing in the media, it seems like they came from real good families, most likely even God fearing Christian families. The hope they’ve expressed so far has been truly amazing. As good a family background as you have though, sometimes regretful choices are made. But the important thing to realize is that how your life ends often (and usually) doesn’t define the life and how it was lived. This is an important point to dwell on over the next several days and weeks as the lives of  2 twins that perished are celebrated.

We’ve also got to keep in mind the 6 that are struggling both physically and emotionally in the hospital. They must be in perilous physical condition and certainly in emotional anguish at the passing of their friends.

Let’s all be there for each other and keep our heads up to recognize needs around us!

Living How You Were Meant to Live

As I rode my bike back from church last Sunday I saw these beautiful Atomic babies just sitting by a dumpster. I thought how sad that someone had just abandoned them to live out their days as "trash". I immediately seized upon them to add to my growing ski museum collection.

Having been sponsored by Atomic years ago for XC racing, the design & graphics brought back nice memories. In those days Atomic would use the same graphic for all their models.... from xc, downhill racing to yes, even  telemark skis. I easily identified the year of these skis as 1992, my first pair of free Atomic classic skis that looked identical to these.

These particular Tele boards had been obviously well used, even crusty old kick wax from the final outing remained on the base. I've often wondered if skis could talk what would they say? Maybe some of mine would say, "you have too many of us! We don't get out enough!" or perhaps, "feed me! I need more wax!"

I'm sure these particular Atomic Tele boards would say, "Thanks for rescuing me from the dumpster, but please.... I want to ski again, not just sit on a wall!"

Truly indeed, a ski would only be happy shushing down the slopes gliding over pristine powder. They'd only be frustrated sitting on a wall or even worse buried in a trash pile.

Maybe it was because I was coming home from church, but I began to think how we as created humans are similar. We're only truly happy and content when we're doing what we were made to do.

And what exactly is that? Of course it's to worship our Creator and live our lives for Him. Even as cool as it is to live in a mountain town and race & train for ski mountaineering, xc and sky running (or whatever it is that you do), it all gets boring and pointless after awhile... if we're doing it apart from our Creator's overriding purpose- to worship Him and live our lives for Him.

I made a nice discovery in Romans 12.11 this A.M..... 3 commands, the middle one being "be fervent in spirit". The word "fervent" is a greek word zeo-used 2x in the N.T. and means to boil (literally & metaphorically- in this case the latter).  In other words let your human spirit be boiling red hot for God (& in the context, good deeds).

I'll admit that lately my thermometer has been on a lower setting lately. Time to turn up the heat!!

GLORY

With Olympic fever still on people’s minds maybe I can share a poignant Olympic moment in my life. The very first Olympic athlete I met (on the very first day I moved to Canada in ‘94) was Catriona Lemay (later...Lemay-Doan). Cat soon became a Christian and less importantly, an Olympic gold medalist. In the days leading up to the 2002 Olympics in Utah, I met with Catriona with the direct purpose of trying to give her a vision of how it could be for her if she became the first Canadian to defend an Olympic gold medal. As we now all know she accomplished this and was the only Canadian to do so until last week when Kallie and Heather repeated their gold medal performance in the 2-gal bobsled.

I wanted to encourage Catriona, as a growing Christian, to use her potential medal platform to worship. Indeed, when you’re on the top step of the podium in the world’s largest sporting contest you have the world’s adulation and adoration. Yet, as a Christian, how cool can it be when you simply direct all that just one (major) step above you, to the One who truly is the only One worthy of such attention. In essence, having a worship time on an Olympic podium.

Recently, I had some stickers made up and freely gave them away to many Christian athletes. They were simply a Bible verse reference... “Is.43.7".  It reads,

 “Everyone who is called by My name, and whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made.”

What a great passage! In this simple statement is our reason for living...the reason why God made us in the first place. How often do we think about this? Why we’re here on this planet?  Do we orient our lives around this passionate purpose? Or like so many, is our sight only as far as what concerns us personally in the mundane day to day living?

Maybe we should all put some stickers or other gentle reminders around us, or better yet, spend some quality time each day with the God who is surpassingly worthy of living solely and soulfully for!

YOU STINK

That’s true. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthins 2.14f, “but thanks be to God who always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we re a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life.”

You stink... either sweet or gross.


In the Roman world at the time of Christ whenever a conquering general
returned in triumph they had a triumph parade. To the eyes of the world
in that day it was the most glorious spectacle which the imagination
could conceive. First came state officials and the senate. Then came the
trumpeters. They were followed by the spoils taken from the conquered
land. There would be pictures of the conquered land and models of
conquered citadels and ships. There would be a white bull for sacrifice,
then the captive princes, leaders and generals in chains. They would
shortly either be flung into prison or executed. Then came the musicians
and priests swinging censers with a sweet smelling incense that was
burning. Finally came the general himself and his army wearing
decorations and shouting in triumph. It was a tremendous day that might
only be witnessed once in a lifetime.

Imagine how the smell of the incense would be to the captives. It would
be the smell of death. They marched through the street only to be
derided by the conquering Romans and would signal that soon you’d either
be executed or sold into slavery. However, to the victorious throngs
that same smell would signal victory and triumph. Same way with the
gospel according to this passage. It’s either a smell of sweet victory
and life saving to some, but to other’s it’s a means of destruction and
condemnation because of their rejection of the gospel.

I had this point well taken today as we looked at this passage with some
of our Christian bobsledders in town for the first world cup of the
season. A visiting coach, peeked at the paper we were
looking at. He saw “You Stink” and made some silly comments. When Lyndon
Rush, Canada’s #1 bobsled pilot told him we were doing a Bible study the
visiting coach made some snide remarks about his mother and this “sh*t”.
We realized we were seeing a graphic playing out of Paul’s very
principle right before our eyes. To the God seeking athletes, the word
of God is precious, but to this godless coach.... well, it was clear how
it smelled to him.

How about you? How do you smell? We each give off an aroma. Either life
or death to those around us.

Success and Failure in Sport & Life

Our weekly SportFaith Discussion group at the Canmore Nordic Centre came immediately on the heals of Canada’s first National team biathlon trials race. Of the 5 biathletes in attendance, not a one of them was happy with their result. One of them even exclaimed that he shot, "dirty", meaning that he did the opposite of "shooting clean" -hitting all the targets. In fact on one of the 2 trips into the range failed to hit a single target.

In God’s economy then it was no surprise that He engineered the topic of the day to be "Success/Failure". Does God have a different view of success compared to that of the world? Of course. Jesus Himself told the story of the talents recorded in Mt. 25.14f, where a rich man went off, but before leaving entrusted 5,2 and 1 talents to 3 different servants (according to their abilities). If you’re familiar with the story you know that the first 2 doubled the talents upon their master’s arrival. The last one buried his and only returned what was given. The message is that God has given (not equally) talents, resources, etc. that He expects us to use, invest and maximize. He was very displeased with the non-investing servant, even calling him wicked and lazy. Wow... pretty stern words.

So then, what would success be in God’s eyes? I think this parable tells us that it’s fully using what gifts He’s entrusted to us. To fail to do so brings God’s serious displeasure. Now, God doesn’t expect the 2 talent guy to produce as much as the 5 talent guy. But certainly He is equally happy with each when they do to the best of their abilities.



 
Shane Stewart, Canadian 3x Nat'l champion, World champion and bronze medalist.

As we were sharing these thoughts during our SportFaith session, outside the window in the XC ski stadium was a young Special Olympian named Shane skiing back and forth amidst the loud, cold, blasting snow making guns. Shane was meticulously practising the scooter drill. It didn’t look like much fun in those circumstances, but Shane was persistently working it. It may help to understand who Shane is. When he was around 10 he was hit by a car and sustained life changing brain damage. As a young adult Shane now doesn’t have the capabilities that most his age enjoy. Yet he is one of the most loving, gentle, responsible and committed individuals I’ve ever met. He holds down a job at our local Safeway, but his passion is Special Olympics competition in XC skiing.

As we watched Shane live out those words of Jesus we realized that though he was only a "1 talent" guy, he has, and continues to absolutely fully develop what abilities he does have. A true inspiration. And a true success.

For the rest of the guys in the study that day, they each went home and prepared for day #2 of the trials, except now with a new version of success....fully releasing every bit of talent God has gifted us with. With a mind set like that you can focus on the task at hand and how to bring out all you’re capable of. The distractions of worrying about the other competitors and how you’ll fare on the result sheet fade to irrelevancy.

The guy that shot "dirty"? He’s a 19 year old Jr that the next day went on to finish 2^nd overall beating several Olympians, most years older with tonnes of experience. The other guys moved up the results sheet as well. But that wasn’t the focus any longer. Funny though, when you learn God’s version of success, the other often does seem to eventually follow.


Jeremiah 9.23 "Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for I delight in these things," declares the LORD.

TAKING A PERSONAL RETREAT

Ever think of doing a personal retreat? The wisest among us advocate doing this often. Taking time to reflect, examine your priorities and make sure  you're maximizing  your gifts and affirming God's calling in your life.

Through the years I've loved doing this in the back country. No, it's not just an excuse to go camping, though I really enjoy this dimension.  To me there's just something about really escaping into the wild, leaving technology behind with all its distractions, that frees one's mind & heart. If I go in the winter I'll often ski into an Alpine Club Canada hut (usually Mon. to avoid people) for a warm dry place. In the summer I'll access via hiking or sea kayak as my preferred method.

So, if you're thinking about taking one of these personal retreats, be it 1 day or several, you can maximize your experience by asking yourself a series of questions, compiled below. I gleaned these from Bob Biehl.

QUESTIONS FOR A PERSONAL PLANNING RETREAT

 

1- what have been major milestones in my life so far?

(encourages, but also provides a foundation for future goals)



2-what is a single word focus for my life?



3-what is my greatest strength?

(Choose only one, focus on this for the future; maximize it)



4-if I could do anything, w/ unlimited resources, talent and time... & knew I couldn’t fail, what would I do?



5-what are the 3 greatest roadblocks keeping me from turning my dreams into reality?



6-what are my 3 greatest resources in life?

(Apply these to the 3 greatest roadblocks)



7-what are the 3 greatest decisions facing me before I move into the future?

(Much stress is caused by indecision; id clearly & wisely)



8-what great ideas do I have that I would like to see accomplished in the future?

(Move fwd only on the best ones)



9-if I could reach only 3 realistic, measurable goals or solve 3 major problems, what 3 would I reach or solve in the next 12 months? (Concentrate on the big 3)



10-what 3 things could I do in the next ninety days to get me 50%of the way to my 1-year goals?



Others:

-before I die, what are the 3-10 realistically measurable things I would most like to do?

-before I die what 3-10 things would I like to do for my children?

-before I die what 3-10 things would I like to do for my wife?

-before I die what 3-10 things would I like to do for God?

Spiritual Suicide

Being a top level athlete in one sense is one of the hardest places to be a Christian. Here’s why... it seems everywhere in N. America we breath the air of self. Everything around us seems to cater to our own individualism and promoting our independence. Satisfying our every desire with stuff is the accepted way of living. For the athlete who’s recognized for their sporting prowess it all gets bumped up a notch. It’s so easy for an aspiring athlete to get a sort of tunnel vision with the only thing in sight the goal to be better, faster, stronger, etc. you embark on a quest to do everything in your life to achieve personal success. This quest can be intensely self focussed. You can easily lose the ability to think about anything other than yourself and your own improvement.

Add to this the reinforcement elite athletes receive from people around them. I still remember a pro football chaplain telling me he’s seen it time and time again where he’ll bring in an older, seasoned pastor to deliver the pre-game chapel message in the locker room, and the minute they enter that supposed hallowed ground they become a 12 year old fan again. Acting in ways that quickly end any influence and credibility they might have had. At a recent Olympics where I was a chaplain we had a situation.... each night we had a Bible discussion meeting for the athletes. A couple of the inexperienced chaplains wanted to open it up to all the volunteers in the athlete village. Now, our roles as chaplains did include ministering to volunteers and even families of athletes, etc., but this ½ hour nightly meeting was the one place these athletes could come and be with their peers without fans, hangers on and others wanting to be around them paying them special attention. The athletes weren’t elitists in their attitudes, it’s just that as Christians they didn’t need that temptation to feel more important or more special than others around them. But so often, for the elite athlete that’s how people treat them and then one can easily fall into the trap of believing that you’re just a little better and more exceptional than others.

Christian athletes...make sure you’re "soaked in scripture". Everyday get into the Bible read things like Is. 43.7 "everyone who is called by My name, & whom I have created for My glory..." Or Ps. 115.1 "Not to us O Lord, but to Your name be glory". Read and realize how absolutely dependant we are on God. Every breath you take (& long distance athletes take a LOT of them!) is a gift from God. Make sure you’re grateful for every unique gift you’ve been given and allow your heart to respond in love. This will change everything about your training and competition. It’s not even thinking about yourself and how "awesome" you’re going to do and be. It’s all about that Creator you love so much. It’s all about making HIM look good, not yourself.

Granted, this isn’t easy. Everything around you will be going in the other self seeking direction, but with Holy Spirit empowerment, right Bible thinking and true heart engagement (loving Jesus) you’ll be training and competing on a whole different plane.

BARRIERS TO WORSHIP

In my previous blog entry I looked at the desire to worship. Today I want to share some thoughts from one of our recent Olympic athlete SportFaith discussion groups.

Worship can take many forms. We tend to think that singing praises is the only way to worship, but we have many ways. In Rom. 12. Paul says that offering up our bodies as a living, holy sacrifice is an act of worship. Sounds like training & competition could certainly fall under Paul’s definition. We can look at the specifics of this in a future blog, but for now I want to discuss 4 barriers to worship that will be taken away once we arrive in Heaven. Four barriers that we can seek to minimize during our time here on Earth so we can maximize our worship here.

Barrier #1 is not seeing God sufficientlyWhen you see something amazing it’s natural to praise it. Great sport moments such as Sidney Crosby’s 2010 gold medal goal, or Bob Beamon’s world record long jump in the ‘68 Olympics that took over 23 years to finally be broken...mandate praise! You can’t help yourself. Same with God. When you really see Him for who He is, you can’t help but praise Him. Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 13.12 that on Earth we see God dimly, but in Heaven we’ll be face to face and see Him clearly. We won’t be able to keep from praising Him up there.

We can reduce this barrier by seeing more of Him now. Knowing God, understanding His ways, observing what He’s made...the more we know, the more we’ll want to worship Him now.

Barrier #2 is failing to clearly see God’s grace to us and his many good gifts. "The highest angel to the lowest insect are dependant upon and maintained by the goodness of God. Those in Heaven see this with perfect clarity." (J. Edwards)

Those in Heaven rightfully understand the greatness and dignity of Jesus and how incredible it was for Him to become a man and lay down His life, enduring the shame and gruesomeness of the cross. We have a small sense of this now, but when we see Christ in His full glory, the reality of what He did for us will be astounding.

Comprehending and intentionally enjoying God’s gifts will automatically draw our hearts to worship.

Barrier #3 is imperfect humility. High level sport is precarious for faith. Here’s why... the more you attain, the more glorification the world gives you. This is suicide for the soul. A Christian athlete must constantly be on guard against self elevation and assigning praise to themself.

Because of the first 2 barriers being removed in Heaven (all these solutions flow into one another), it will be automatic to say as the Psalmist did in Ps. 115.1 "not to us o Lord, not unto us, but to thy name be the glory". Humility will be perfected in Heaven, we’ll see God for who He truly is and ourselves for who we are.

The Christian athlete cannot afford to neglect one day of drawing deeply into God’s word enjoy seeing Him rightly and understand what He’s done for us and comprehend clearly where we stand in His divine Kingdom



 
Barrier #4 is that love for God isn’t perfect. But it will be in Heaven. On Earth it’s possible to be thankful, but not genuine... a counterfeit thankfulness devoid of love. Sincere thankfulness is full of love and it can’t help itself. The greater a person’s love is, the more disposed to praise they will be. When your love for God is strong you will proportionally seek His glory and love to see Him glorified.

"Where is your heart at?" I know longer ask Christians how their walk with God is going, because where their heart is at is much more important. Do you purposefully aim to grow deeper in love with God? Make it a priority.



Can you imagine how joyful such unhindered praise would be? Joy is a great ingredient in praise and your spirit is elevated to eminent heights when you are participating in the greatest, most honouring thing we were created to do!

WILL YOU BE BORED IN HEAVEN?

Will you be bored in Heaven? Almost anyone you know would say they want to go to Heaven (though many seem to be unsure of how to actually get there). But do they really want to go to Heaven? Most people rarely go to church these days (in my town it’s probably less than 2% on any given Sunday). The past several years I’ve seen an interesting trend in Christians that don’t go to any church. But I’ve wondered if you can be a Christian and not DESIRE to go to church. Here’s why... the main occupation of Heaven is going to be worship. Worship of Jesus. Look at the descriptions in Revelation. God gave visions to John of the eternal Heavenly worship service. It’s awesome! Rev. 5.8-9; 7.9-12; 15.2f; 14.2: these all describe amazing scenes of numbers too vast to count making a loud, beautifully melodious song of praise to Jesus.

Granted, some of our churches are sorely lacking in superlative musical experiences, but in the end it’s the heart’s desire. Do you really have a heart to worship? If so, it won’t matter completely if the music is perfect or not, or even if the style is your favourite. What matters is that the King of all Kings, Jesus, is worshipped, praised, honoured and made the absolute centerpiece of what’s going on.

Occasionally I’ve pondered whether or not many of my semi-religious friends would actually really want to go to Heaven. Imagine knowing someone that even though they’re the most morally pure, beautiful persons ever, they just for some reason rub you the wrong way. Who knows why...maybe they just remind you of your own shortcomings, but for whatever reason you just don’t like them. Now imagine that you’re locked up in a room with that person for all eternity.....yuck! If you’ve never had any interest in praising Jesus, making much of him and singing to him, do you really think you’re going to want to do that for all eternity? Heaven is the place where everything revolves around Jesus and worshipping him.

For me, when I think about these things it challenges me to make sure that when I get to Heaven and I get to finally see Jesus face to face I don’t want Him to be a stranger. I want to carry on what I’ve been pursuing on Earth, only in a much more intense, personal and unspoiled way.

Dealing with Disappointment

Ok....time to start doing something with this blog. My "skitrainingcentral.blogspot.com" has been getting a lot of hits... this one hardly any. I wonder where my heart is truly at sometimes. Ski racing and training or God’s Kingdom. No reason why they can’t come together.

Every athlete faces disappointment in their competitive lives. I think my personal experience is that for every "wonder race" (the ones you truly revel in with your success-when it all seems to come together), there’s probably about five races that were generally forgettable. My recent ski blog shares my disappointment at my final int’l race. But is it about results anyway?



I love what Stu McMillan (popular Calgary based coach) has to say about this. (His blog: www.mcmillanspeed.com)

"Possibly cliche number one in the Great Book of Cliches states that life is about the journey - not the destination....And it is in this process that success lies.

It is the same with sport. If you are waiting until the end-product of your work for your satisfaction, then you will be disappointed. Revel in the training. In your experiences. The challenges. In the friendships you make. The relationships you build. With others. With yourself. In the strength you possess. Your will. Your commitment. Learn from your failures. For there will be many.


Don't be proud of your perfectionism. It is a flaw. The struggle to avoid failure is a fear-driven, exhausting, stressful way to live. Perfectionism will not lead to high-performance.

High performance comes from embracing your fears. From confronting failure. From be-friending your imperfection."

I’ll even notch things up a bit.

As a Christian athlete, we’ve got even more purpose and reason for triumphantly persevering. Check out Romans 5.3f:

"And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance proven character, and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

What’s more important than good results? Character. God is way more concerned about our character.... about becoming like Jesus, than He is about results (though I think He does care, because we care-but in a different way). Another cliche (maybe #2 Stu) is, "there's Joy in the Journey". Really living is when you take each setback and roadblock and go about striving to solve the puzzle. Romans 5 tells us there is a great outcome in doing this... hope. Character. Experiencing God along the way (via the Holy Spirit).

I’ve got way more to say on this, but I’m keeping my bposts short. More later! Thanks for reading!

Discipline

Does the Christian athlete have an advantage? Consider this... what character quality does every great athlete possess? Discipline. The ability to do the hard things, the little things, do them right, stick to it, persevere, etc. It’s the stand out feature that top sports people MUST have.

What does the Bible say on this? We’ve been given discipline... 2 Timothy 1.7 says, "For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but one of power, love and discipline." The original Greek word here is only used once in the Bible- "sofronismon". It’s a unique word that can also be translated as "having soundness of mind, self control, moderation". And remember, we’ve been given this.

In the Galatians fruit of the Spirit list, self control is also mentioned. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace....self-control". Again, this is GIVEN to us, as a gift, a supernatural endowment.

One of the coolest sport motifs in the Bible, and there are several, is in 1 Corinthians 9.25, "Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable". Along the same lines 2 Peter 1.6 admonishes us to supply self-control among a list of other qualities that will render us useful & fruitful in God’s Kingdom.

So on the one hand we’ve been given an internal empowering, but in other passages we’re commanded to apply self-control/discipline. Like many things in the Christian life we’ve got promises to believe in, but also admonitions to give it our best effort.

How cool is it that we can step out in faith, believing that we’ve been given the gift of discipline and make sure we’re exercising it to the best of our ability?

So what do you think? Does the Christian athlete have an advantage? It’s up to you to exercise that faith muscle and unleash God’s discipline power!

Lance...really LiveStrong!!

So, the Lance firestorm seemingly has begun to reach its vertex. Yes, I’ve joined in on the discussions. We’ve talked about the arrogance & lack of accountability for doping control bodies (WADA, USADA, etc.). Discussed Lance’s obvious culpability and everyone else’s in the peleton at that point in history. How overconfident Lance has been and assured of his invincibility in the matter. Yet one conversation hasn’t taken place and in the eyes of the most essential viewpoint, it’s the most important.

I still remember listening to Lance’s first book (audio version) as I drove home with Arturo Kinch from a ski training camp in our Olympic preparation for the 2002 Winter Olympics. As we heard Lance’s story two things really struck me. The first was how incredible it was that he survived. Doctors only gave him a 4% chance of living. Of course we all know the story how he not only survived, but went on to win the world’s most physically challenging sporting contest....Le Tour, multiple times. The other thing that really struck me was how prideful and impervious Lance was to God’s good graciousness to him.

Lance’s story is a true hard luck to world conquerer tale. Yet along the way God gave him opportunities to submit to his creator, but in each instance-especially coming that close to death and given a second chance, Lance seemed to reject God’s touch in his life. There never seemed to be gratefulness for these moments or gratitude for being granted another opportunity at life. Even Lance’s foundation (that he’s no longer officially a part of due to the fall out), "LiveStrong" exudes feelings of independence and self reliance.

What could have been or will be the best possible outcome of all this? That he won’t be stripped of his 7 Tour victories (happened today)? That he won’t be required to return his Olympic medal or the millions of prize money earnings and sponsorship dollars? That the court of public opinion will still validate this once amazing hero? In my estimation none of these can compare to what God’s good plan could very well be for Lance...the breaking of his pride and finally humbly submitting to God.

Yes, all this could be the very best thing that ever happened to Lance Armstrong. God, in his goodness, knows that this is the only way to break through Lance Armstrong’s bulletproof pride. Of course, Jesus said it best when he stated, "what does it profit a man to gain the world but forfeit his soul?" 7 tour wins, amassing a worldly fortune and the adulation of millions doesn’t mean a thing when you stand before God on the day of judgement.

So right now I could easily imagine Lance shaking his fist at God and saying, "Why are you doing this to me?!!" God’s answer, "because I love you with an infinite love and I infinitely care about you and your soul...and that you’ll be all you can be and enter into my Kingdom."

Let’s pray for Lance, that he won’t burn up this most clear chance to reconcile with God.

Can an Athlete be Truly Humble?

This morning I was reading from Henry Scougal’s "The Life of God I the Soul of Man." He has some interesting thoughts on humility. I wonder if most people would imagine they don’t have a problem with being humble. Yet, Scougal makes some comments that make me realize how incomplete my own humility levels are (I know, some of you are thinking "Sellers you have every reason to be humble!).

Ever feel slighted by someone? Not respected? Treated short of the esteem we feel we deserve? Likely we all do at times. But check out this quote, "the humble person hath the advantage when he is despised, that none can think more meanly of him than he doth of himself; and therefore he is not troubled at the matter, but can easily bear those reproaches which wound the other to the soul." Wow! I like that. When accused by someone of some perceived shortfall your response can truly be.... "if they only really knew..." The humble knows they’ve got a lot of issues that need changing ("& thanks for the help in pointing them out!").

Maybe this can be a good barometer of our humility quotient.... how easily does criticism roll off your back?


More significantly, humility brings us joy. Scougal states that the greatest satisfaction and sweetness come when at the "lowest prostration of their souls before God, having a deep sense of the divine majesty and glory, they sink to the bottom of their beings, and vanish and disappear in the presence of God."   Cool.   True humility is when we begin to understand our place in relation to the majesty of God. In fact Scougal says it’s impossible to express the great pleasure and delight we experience in this.

I can’t help but compare this to those competitions when everything falls into place and you’re in that psychological bubble where everything feels easy, fun and energizing. In these instances you totally lose yourself. There’s no thoughts about how you look or what others think of you. It’s just pure enjoyment of the present moment. Connecting with God intimately has the same effect. There’s such joy in that moment that its inconceivable to have any thoughts of yourself. They just get swallowed up in Christ’s gloriousness.

One more... Wanna truly be at peace with yourself and others? Then listen to this, "the proud and arrogant person is a trouble to all that converse with him, but most of all unto himself : every thing is enough to vex him; but scarce anything sufficient to content and please him."

I can’t help but feel that so much of our sport pursuits (or any pursuit for that matter) are aimed at propping up the ego...the self. The Christian is to surrender self. But this task is impossible to do on it’s own unless you lose yourself in joyfully revelling in the perfections of Christ. When you do as described by Scougal, then the self naturally and even unconsciously dissolves in His jubilant glory.

I gotta-wanna pray more!