The Voice at the Finish Line

When I was in third grade, I was finally able to run in the Junior Olympics. Our P.E. coaches, Mrs. Arthur and Mr. Parson, had begun preparing Ann and I early in our first and second grade years. They boasted on our natural ability to run, enjoyed our healthy, competitive attitudes and established a bond of trust with us that boosted our confidence. We trained until we were standing on the track at the Franklin County High School for Junior Olympics.

Now, Mama loved putting our hair in ponytails. Each ponytail was decorated with a pretty, colorful plastic bow at the end.  It would have been fine, except our hair was long and every time we swung our heads from side to side, we became victims of the ponytails’ wrath. They nearly wrapped around our little throats and left unnecessary scratches and cuts on our faces.

Nevertheless, we were on the track for the preliminary 200 meter relay race with our long ponytails and blue hair bows, which matched the blue “LES” shirt I proudly wore. I stood ready with great anticipation in the first lane and stretched my arms as I believed Jim Thorpe or Jesse Owens would have.

BANG!

The gun sounded and I took off like lightening around the curve. I watched as Coach Parson dashed across the field for the finish line. He yelled, spit and flung his arms in the air as he encouraged me on. When I hit the straight-a-way, I noticed that I was running the race all by myself and Coach Parson was ahead of me. I closed my eyes confidently, swung my head from side to side with a huge smile on my face, and ran faster as I silenced all other voices in the stands, including my mother, and listened for Coach Parson’s voice at the finish line.

I won that race that day. When my racing buddies told that story when we were in high school, they insisted that my ponytails with blue bows and side-to-side head swing were the lethal forces that took them out of the race, leaving them with cuts and bruises. Me . . . all I remembered was hearing Coach’s voice at the finish line.

The passages in Mark 4:24-25 and Luke 8:18 are scriptures I have often found myself meditating. Jesus told his disciples to heed what and how they heard, because that was the determining factor for the quantity of faith they were given. It made sense to me: faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). The more I heard, the more faith I had; the more faith I had, the more access I had to God and His promises. Simple . . . or so I thought.

I remember times when those words weren’t so simple. I listened to friends who praised me as long as I pleased them. I listened to the words of my abuser who told me I was wasting my time believing for a solution that was never coming. I listened to my fearful words convincing myself I was not worth loving. In time, those words overrode the voice of God. They overrode Jesus, Himself, as He yelled and flung His hands, which were pierced for my sake, wildly above His head. Eventually, their love and what they did were not enough for me because other voices kept me from seeing their worth.

We’ve heard it time and time again; we must silence the “extra” voices we hear in our mind, will and emotions, as well as those voices from others around us, so that we may hear God’s voice and heed His words. Only then, when we hear His voice, are we able to breakthrough and overcome.

I encourage you, my loved ones. Don’t be drawn aside by the crowds in the stands. Instead, close your eyes, swing your head from side to side as your hair beats against your face and listen for God’s voice beckoning at the finish line.

~Vickie Bowman

Winning isn’t Everything

“The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.” – The Olympic Creed

Winning isn’t everything.

Check your reaction to that one statement, and it’ll tell you a lot about your image of yourself, of success, and of God. Let’s face it; we are a highly competitive society. We’re programmed from the time we’re young to WIN at all costs. Have you been to a little league ball game lately? You will find adorable children all dressed out in their ball uniforms surrounded by half-crazed parents screaming, cursing, and pulling their hair out if their kid’s team isn’t “killing” the other team. I know; I’ve been one of those parents!

We try to tell our children that it’s not if you win or lose, but how you play the game. But we don’t really demonstrate that in our own lives, because our identity is wrapped up in our accomplishments and in those of our children. So our children grow up believing that they are a disappointment to us if they don’t WIN in every thing they do. And because parents represent God to their children, they also believe they are disappointing Him by not winning or succeeding in every area, every time. So in our minds, winning really does become everything that builds our self-esteem and sense of worth. Winning becomes our goal.

The problem with that is when we gauge ourselves by the winning alone, we will begin to alter our experiences so that we always win. We’ll cheat, we’ll lie, we’ll force others to see things from our perspective so that we win. We cease to appreciate any experience that doesn’t lend itself to our personal victory. We begin to gauge ourselves by our measure of success, and if we’re succeeding, we feel good about life. If we’re not succeeding, we beat ourselves up and become depressed or despondent until we can figure out a way to win again.

“I always triumph in Christ, right? It’s in the Bible; I know I’ve quoted it thousands of times!” Well, after a closer look, 2 Corinthians 2:14 actually says “Now thanks [be] unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.” When we read that correctly, the scripture actually tells us that the giving of thanks to God causes us to celebrate the triumph Christ has already made over the enemy. It is our thanksgiving that demonstrates the knowledge of His victory everywhere we go. The Word doesn’t actually say that we win; it says that He already won.

But wait a minute, I thought I was supposed to always win, always come out on top. If I don’t come out on top, how can I say I am victorious? How can I BE anything? Well, you have to remember that you are victorious IN CHRIST. You can partake of His victory at any time by praising and thanking Him for it. And “any time” means even in those times when you are failing, falling, making mistakes, and experiencing trials and tribulations. So when you’re not winning, you can still thank God because Jesus already won. That means you don’t need to gauge yourself by your victories, but by His. See, when we perceive ourselves as “winning,” it is easy for us to forget that it is only because of Him. It’s easier to have confidence in ourselves when we are the ones in control of our success. Because we are successful, we don’t really understand what it means to triumph in Christ when we are busily triumphing in ourselves. No, we need to stop being success minded, and become Christ-minded, so we can say along with the Apostle Paul, “whether I am abased or I abound, I am content.” That way, our success is not our measure; His is. Our winning doesn’t determine our worth; His does. So, when we’re in our hour of deepest trial, we are still overcoming through HIM.

So, it really is not whether we win or lose, but how we play the game. When we “go for the gold” by pressing toward our prize, we need to remember that our prize is Christ, not a medal! We win IN HIM!

(First published 08.17.08)

Olympic Proportions

An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. – 2 Tim 2:5, RSV

Michael Phelps. The name kind of says it all, doesn’t it? To say he is an amazing athlete is an understatement of Olympic proportions. Every person in America…and probably the world… knows that Phelps won 8 gold medals in the Beijing Games: more medals in one Olympics than any other athlete in the history of the Games. He has brought world-class swimming to a tipping point, and the sport will never be the same again.

But what can we, as believers, learn from this young man? For starters, let’s talk about Divine Design. Phelps has five unique physical qualities (yes, 5!) that make his body perfectly suited to his profession: his long, thin torso, arms which span 6 feet 7 inches, relatively short legs, joined to size 14 feet by hypermobile ankles he can extend beyond the pointe of a ballet dancer, enabling him to whip his feet as if they were fins, for maximum thrust through the water.

If you read about him, you’ll find that he was teased for his awkward build when he was growing up, but it’s now clear that his structure has purpose. You and I may not be called to race through the water, but we can rest assured that we have been perfectly designed to fulfill our purpose in the Kingdom. True, we may feel awkward at times, but we must realize that God has fit us into the Body to fulfill a specific function. We are perfectly designed by Him. Think how ridiculous it would be for Michael Phelps to try to be a gymnast! It is just as senseless for us to ignore our Divine Design and try to be someone or some gift that we are not. Imagine, too, what a tragic loss it would be for the sport if Michael had allowed the ridicule to prevent him from pursuing his dream. So often, we allow set-backs or persecution to become our excuse for not fulfilling God’s plan and pursuing our role in the Body.

During last year’s Games, a former Olympic champion was quoted in the newspaper as doubting Phelps’ ability to win 8 gold medals. He was obviously qualified to have such an opinion; he must have known what he was talking about. He had observed Phelps for many years and had recognized his weaknesses. But what did Michael do with the whispering from his opponent? He taped the article in the back of his locker and used it to spur him towards victory!

Satan has observed us our whole lives and knows our weaknesses. When he whispers accusations and tells us we are not capable of fulfilling our destiny, we must recognize that he is a liar and the father of all lies; therefore, what he says about us is also untrue! Take his words and use them as inspiration to do exactly the opposite of what he is saying to you… to go on and succeed at everything God has called you to do!

Did you happen to see the men’s 400m medley last fall? Phelps had the third leg on this race. He started behind the field and had a lot of ground to make up. In fact, he was 7th at the turn and ended up catching the field and pulling ahead enough to give his last team member a great lead! When the race was over, announcers wanted to talk to him about his 8th gold medal, but Phelps wanted to commend his team. He plainly said that nothing he had accomplished would have been possible without his teammates. We must remember that God has placed us IN the Body of Christ and set us amongst particular members. We need to learn how to use our strengths while still giving honor to those members on our team who are weaker. In that way, the entire team becomes strengthened, and the whole team receives glory.

How often have we grown weary in well doing? How often do we feel that we have raced all we can, and there is nothing left in us? Again, we can look to the athlete to give us inspiration. We are prepared in our everyday activities: praying in tongues, meditating the Word, worshipping, and fellowshipping with others in the Body. Phelps had a goal. He kept a list with him of all that was necessary to become the greatest Olympic champion of all time. We have been strengthened by grace to complete our race. All we need to do is keep our eyes on the prize and press on. As we do, we overcome obstacles of seeming Olympic proportion to become all that God has ordained us to be!

(First published 08.24.08)

PS. I wrote this at the end of the 2008 Olympics. I realize that Phelps has been in some trouble lately and is currently suspended (but only for 3 months) from competitive swimming. So, here’s my thought…. the young man is pursuing his dream and he has achieved a level of success, but his life isn’t over. There is more for him to still achieve. OF COURSE he is going to make mistakes along the way, be swallowed in by pride, tested in his character.

This latest story on Phelps still fits with our analogy to the Believer in Christ. DON’T FORGET that you have an adversary, the devil, who seeks whom he may devour. Any time you experience success as a Believer, the enemy is going to come and try to limit your effectiveness by pulling on your character flaws. So, what do you do? Do you quit? Say, “I guess I wasn’t really called to do this afterall?” NO! You deal with those flaws, repent, and keep on striving to be ALL God has called you to be!!!