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Everyday Olympians
By Scott Harrup | August 12, 2008
The world has Olympics fever again. Our family spent much of last Friday night awed by the opening ceremonies, and we all cheered our heads off when the U.S. men’s team won the 400-meter freestyle relay Sunday night.
Some decry all the hoopla as a massive waste of resources that could be directed to far worthier causes than the sweat expended over a few medals or rose bouquets. But the Olympics are so much more than medals.
The Games are symbols for all of us. Here are a few of them.
• At the Olympics we see the nations of our world setting aside many of their differences and focusing their collective energies on the best qualities of humanity.
• The athletes strive for excellence as evidence of their years of disciplined training and in pursuit of ever-higher goals.
• Each contest promotes qualities like loyalty, love for country, self-sacrifice and honorable competition.
• Every athlete comes to the Olympics on the shoulders of countless people and their commitments of love and teamwork.
I will never be able to swim or run or lift weights like an Olympian. But I absolutely can take each of the above points and apply them to my life every day. I’ll never have a billion people watching my every move by satellite. But I can move and speak and demonstrate love and honor in such a way that my children and family and loved ones will be blessed.
The Olympics predate the New Testament, and I think the writer of Hebrews had the Games of his day in focus when he wrote this:
“Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1, NIV).
I’m running, and so are you. And if you’ve found the right race, you have so much more than medals to look forward to.
