Olympic Perspectives

With the Winter Olympics coming to a close, I am somewhat sad.  Although most of the sports that are a part of the games are not a part of my warm weather culture, for two weeks every four years they are captivating. 

Let me begin by turning in my "man card".  One of the most fascinating events of this Olympiad for me was the Ice Dancing competition.  It is not an event that has ever been of interest before but for some reason caught my attention.  The performances were strong and the final night was incredible with the gold medal coming down to an incredibly close showdown between two pairs, it was truly electrifying.  This is what good competition is all about, rising to the occasion and pushing one another to greatness.  This also occurred in the women's figure skating competition which was extremely close with two champions pushing one another to a tremendous finish which was decided by a razor thin margin.

In Arkansas we don't get much snow, but most of us at least understand traditional alpine skiing events which are speed based, but where do they come up with some of these other things like moguls and skicross or the Nordic events such as ski jumping?  I will say that ski jumping has always been a favorite event of my winter olympic viewing.  I did not see very much of it during these games, but it never fails to captivate.  Even with how much I enjoy watching the ski jumps, I can't figure out how that one got started.  I suppose that there just isn't much daredevil in my soul.

Then there is curling.  Wow, that one grabbed my attention several years ago probably during another Olympic year, and now it is must see television.  A few months ago I wrote about how "The Joy of Painting" with Bob Ross is mesmerizing.  Curling, too, is mesmerizing it is so different that you can't help but become intrigued.  This Olympic season it became even more intriguing as the U.S. men's team began to take one of the most unlikely journeys ever from a 2 win, 4 loss start in pool play all the way to the Gold Medal.  As the old song "Young at Heart" says, "Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you. . . "  This year that fairy tale did come true for the five men who formed this team.

Now what does all this have to do with faith?  It all depends on how you look at it.  From my perspective each of the athletes who competed has dedicated themselves to their sport.  That dedication takes on many forms and requires daily preparation.  Could we as people of faith look to our Olympic favorites and put their discipline to practice in our lives?  Yes, and for such a greater cause.  If we spent time daily in the Word of God, intentionally seeking a greater understanding, then we could be better ready for the "competition" of daily life.  Those times when roadblocks and temptations are placed before us would not seem so daunting.  The opportunities we are given to share our faith would be a bit more comfortable.  The fine tuning of our bodies and minds would give us the physical and mental strength to carry on as soldiers for the cause of Christ.

Yes, the Olympics are concluding, but the lessons we learn can be something to propel us onward, if we put it in the proper perspective.  I hope you have enjoyed these Olympic games as much as I have, and more importantly I hope you can take the lessons of discipline and determination and apply them to your faith.  It is by daily walking with a disciplined approach to our faith that we will Make Today Great, each and every day!

LIfe's Soup

Last week I wrote about physical health and wrapped that discussion up by discussing how our physical health impacts our abilities to serve in our faith.  We often want to put our lives into boxes and move ourselves from box to box.  The truth of the matter is that it is not possible to live fully under this approach.  The various aspects and dimensions of our life could looked at as a soup.  Yes, you heard that right our life can be looked as a soup.

Second Corinthians 4:6-8 says:

  For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair

This passage speaks of our lives as a vessel, in my line of thinking that is the soup pot.  Now if we were in the kitchen and were preparing a pot of soup we would choose various ingredients to include in that soup depending upon what we want to end up with and eventually eat.

Soups like people come in many forms.  There are hot soups and cold soups.  There are vegetable soups and soups that include meats.  You can make chili or chicken tortilla.  Each of these requires different ingredients in different proportions, and to get to your desired result it requires making decisions.

Aha, decisions are our control mechanism.  To build a life, like building a tasty soup requires making the right decisions of what to add to your life and in what proportions.

A tasty soup will have a good base to which all the subsequent ingredients are added, but which often controls the depth of the flavor.  Our lives also, if we do it well, will have a strong base in faith.  If we choose this base, then we have set the tone for the ultimate outcome of our lives.  Like completing that soup recipe we mix in other things that will add to the flavor and satisfaction of the soup.  

In our lives we add things like family, friends, home, work, health, finance, personal growth and so much more.  As we make decisions about how we mix these things we will find our lives taking on various flavors or tastes.  Just like those who are cooking up soup in the kitchen we must continually sample the product with a little taste test.  

In the realm of life this means consistently taking a look at ourselves and doing some self reflection, what is the taste we have currently?  Is it the life we desired, is it tasting more like that final flavor we are looking for?  If so then our life mix is on track, however if it is not, then we need to consider either emptying our bowl (pouring ourselves out before God) and refilling ourselves with that base of faith, or if we don't believe that we are off by much, then we can tweak the levels of the various ingredients bringing them into a more tasty balance. 

What is in your bowl today?  Are you feeling pretty good about the taste that the soup our your life is leaving in your mouth?  Today I challenge you to consider the soup of your life and make some decisions.  This is another way to Make Today Great!

Cause and Effect

For those of you who may not know, or have forgotten, I live with type II diabetes.  Though it is a condition that "runs in my family", up one side of the family tree and down the other.  It is a condition that I could have likely avoided, or at least postponed further if I had made better decisions in regards to my health.

As I awaken this morning I did my glucose monitoring test and found by blood sugar level to be 123.  This is not an alarming number by any means, but it is 15 points or so higher than my current norm.  Why is it higher this morning?  Cause and effect, plain and simple.  Yesterday I made poor choices, and today those choices manifest themselves in my blood sugar reading. 

When you live with chronic conditions such as diabetes it is crucial to your long term health to understand your illness, and how to manage or control it.  Even when you have a solid understanding of your situation it is easy to fall to the seduction of the forbidden fruit.  In the life of the diabetic one of the the primary challenges is diet.  As someone who thoroughly enjoys food, maintaining complete control of my diet is practically impossible.

Cause and effect.  Eating pasta and breadsticks for dinner at 7:30, followed by a Krispy Kreme doughnut two hours later is wonderful on the tongue, but terrible on the glucometer, and the scales were unkind as well this morning.  The real danger is not in the short term aberration in the blood sugar level, but in the establishment of habits where these poor decisions become routine.  It is in our habits that the hemoglobin A1C levels are set measuring our long-term level of blood sugar.  It is in this level over time that damage can ensue.

Cause and effect.  What is the danger of longer term elevation of blood sugar level?  There are many, I see the examples daily as I go to the office.  In  extreme cases it may be the loss of limbs due to infections or the unrelenting routines of dialysis for those whose kidneys no longer function as is necessary to sustain life.  More common are those who have suffered strokes or lost most, if not all, of their vision.  Diabetes is bad, and uncontrolled you can see that it is really bad.

Bad is something that can be said for several other common conditions as well, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and being overweight or obese.  Here are some links to investigate related to various afflictions:

Mayo Clinic - Diabetes Diagnosis and Treatment

Mayo Clinic - Top 5 Lifestyle Changes to Improve Your Cholesterol

Cleveland Clinic - Weight Management: Special Procedures and Treatment

CDC - Blood Pressure Fact Sheet

It is not my desire for this week's piece to be a downer, but rather to be a wake up call.  Recognize that the decisions we make have an impact.  That impact is different for each decision we make, but the key thing is to know that we have a great deal of control over the future of our health, even if we are afflicted with a chronic illness. 

You might be asking, what does this have to do with my faith?  This is Workout Your Faith isn't it?  Yes this is Workout Your Faith, and yes it does have something to do with our faith.  Two things actually. 

1. The first thing this has to do with our faith is when we are not at our best physically, mentally, or emotionally, then we will have difficulty serving others which is a calling card of our faith.
2. The other thing that is a direct application to our faith is that the same principles apply to our tastes for sin.  God has immense grace to cover our sin, but he does not want to us make those poor choices and dabble with sin.  We must recognize there are consequences that result from our choices.

Life is all about cause and effect.  Decisions influence outcomes.  Make better decisions today and live better tomorrow.  These are a few ideas of how to MAKE TODAY GREAT!