XXX Olympiad

     The Olympic Games. The most exciting event in sports and history. They are only held every 4 years, both summer and winter games overlap so an Olympic games is held every two years. 
     I love the Olympics. I look forward to them with great anticipation and endure over two weeks of deprived sleep to stay up and watch the NBC primetime showing. Winter and summer, doesn't matter, both thrill and excite me. I cheer for the favorites and the underdogs alike; team USA or otherwise. I simply love seeing excellence, and oh, the rush of pure joy when an athlete attributes their success to Jesus Christ. There aren't many, but the few that are there, are noticeable in many ways. 
     This year, the XXX (thirtieth) Summer Olympiad is being held in London, England. (This is even more exciting for me since my grandma was from Wales.) And already, it is shaping up to be an extremely memorable and historic Olympic Games. 
     The USA women's gymnastic team (known as the Fab Five) won team Gold and gymnast Gabby Douglas the All-Around Individual Gold. Swimmer superstar Michael Phelps has become the greatest Olympian of all time, with a record 21 career Olympic medals, 18 of them gold. Mo Farah of  Great Britain became the first British athlete to win the 10,000 meter race, with Galen Rupp of the USA winning the silver medal; becoming the first US athlete to medal in this race in over a hundred years. There are so many more athletes and accomplishments I could remember, stories told, history made, and moments to remember. 

Fab Five

Gabby Douglas

Michael Phelps

Galen Rupp & Mo Farah

     I just finished reading the biography of missionary and Olympic Champion, Eric Liddell. His life was one of absolute surrender to the King of kings. He ran with impossibly horrible running form, and yet just got faster and faster, beating the best in the world at the 1924 Paris Olympics. He was born in China, attended school in England and was of Scottish descent. He became known for his quiet statement of faith in refusing to run the 100 meter race in the Olympics because the qualifying heats were held on the Sabbath. After much discussion, he trained for and was allowed to run in the 400 meter race, a distance he was not known to be good at. And he won. 

     After his athletic career, he became a missionary to China (as were his parents before him and his brother). He met his wife there, married in China, and died there in a Japanese internment camp during World War II of a brain tumor. Everything that this man did was marked by honesty, integrity, determination, and a deep, abiding love for God. He was absolutely faithful to have at least an hour of "quiet time" before the Lord; reading His word, seeking His guidance, reflecting on what God was telling Him, praying, and basking in the presence of the Lord. It was this devotion and indwelling of the Holy Spirit that carried Eric through impossible situations and kept him humble, unassuming, and everyday. On the outside at least. He was a great man of the faith, and he ran the race of life in a straight line, always trusting in His guide.