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!
