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!