Nastia Liukin just won the gold medal in Women's all-around gymnastics. She was born in Moscow and moved to the U.S. with her family. Her father is her coach, and he was a gold medalist in 1988 (her mother also a former world champion). How incredibly sweet for a parent to not only win olympic gold, but then to coach a child to gold themselves. One can only imagine the pride that family is feeling right now in their daughter, and she in her parents.
Do we as Christians truly value and understand the inheritance we have waiting for us? Am I recognizing that we are to share in the Gold Medal standing of Jesus before the greatest Olympic judge that ever will be, God Himself? Do I get the fact that Jesus wrestled against his own humanity and against satan and came out victorious----and after he did that, he went on to absorb the Father's Holy Wrath against all sin?! Talk about Olympic competition. Give me your strongest weighlifter, your best marathon runner, and all the other atheletes combined, and none holds a candle to Jesus and what he endured, pouring out love instead of hatred or spite. Hallelujah, what a savior!
But it doesn't stop there. Jesus comes from his Olympic podium and shouts out to the crowd of spectators, "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved"(Romans 10:9), that is, you will share in His gold-medal standing before the Father and there will be "no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). Do you get that? Do you realize that you will stand beside him on the Olympic platform of all time, making Beijing and Sydney and Seoul and Atlanta and Los Angeles and Athens, Paris, Mexico City, Moscow...all pale in comparison.
Do you get that? Does that grip your heart! Does that make you want to perservere and press on?
The author of this blog realizes all to painfully that this reality doesn't grip him NEARLY enough.
May we all be renewed in true knowledge and holiness.
Amen
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Can someone explain to me?
Can someone more educated, wise, and knowledgeable than me please explain, beside the partisan rhetoric (aka superficial, one dimmensional propaganda and hot air)---is it REALLY true that the Bush administration's economic policies have truly hurt the ecomony...or is he just the man in office at the time when the economy collapsed?
Asking the same question a different way, IF Bill Clinton was president right now with the exact same world circumstances, would the economy be thriving right now???
I'm just finding it too hard to believe that George Bush is responsible for the state of all affairs in our economy right now.
For my democratic friends, can you explain to me exactly HOW Bill Clinton "made" the economy explode in the 90's...as well as HOW George Bush "made" it collapse in the 2000's??
It all just seems too simplistic to blame it all on Bush---popular as that sport may be. It just strikes me that the economy was doomed to fail no matter what---and in fact it may be that it was the hyper-excess of the 90's that fueled the collapse in the 2000's. That's what they tell us fueled the Great Depression of the 30's---all the excesses of the 20's.
So maybe, just maybe, my Democratic friends need to put the blame on Bill instead of W. I know that will never happen, but it's just a thought nonetheless.
No, really---it's neither Bill nor W's fault...WE are at fault: the American people. Me as much as anyone. We've spent too much, saved to little, and put ourselves deeply in debt. The log in my eye is very large, so I don't dare try to pick specks out of anyone else's eye.
Like I say, it's just a question on which I welcome and expect some rousing debate.
Asking the same question a different way, IF Bill Clinton was president right now with the exact same world circumstances, would the economy be thriving right now???
I'm just finding it too hard to believe that George Bush is responsible for the state of all affairs in our economy right now.
For my democratic friends, can you explain to me exactly HOW Bill Clinton "made" the economy explode in the 90's...as well as HOW George Bush "made" it collapse in the 2000's??
It all just seems too simplistic to blame it all on Bush---popular as that sport may be. It just strikes me that the economy was doomed to fail no matter what---and in fact it may be that it was the hyper-excess of the 90's that fueled the collapse in the 2000's. That's what they tell us fueled the Great Depression of the 30's---all the excesses of the 20's.
So maybe, just maybe, my Democratic friends need to put the blame on Bill instead of W. I know that will never happen, but it's just a thought nonetheless.
No, really---it's neither Bill nor W's fault...WE are at fault: the American people. Me as much as anyone. We've spent too much, saved to little, and put ourselves deeply in debt. The log in my eye is very large, so I don't dare try to pick specks out of anyone else's eye.
Like I say, it's just a question on which I welcome and expect some rousing debate.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Christ, the Gold Medal Winner
Beijing Olympics began tonight. Did you catch the opening ceremonies? Oh my, how incredible. Four hours of heart-pounding showmanship, taken to the bleeding edge. Matt Lauer of NBC called it "breathtaking."
Yet, in it all---think about this now----not one mention of God--the benevolent Creator who made mankind with all its potential. No credit given, not a word, not even a hint. It's as if man did it all himself. Four hours, millions of dollars, and billions of viewers, and God isn't invited. God is shut out. God, who made us all, and gave us our incredible minds and bodies...and not even a hint of thanks or even acknowledgement.
Is it a wonder that He sent his Son to die for us? To reclaim His Glory from the evil one (satan) ho seeks to rob God of all Glory?
Ponder this...
For all the majesty and glory of the Olympic Games and celebrations----one day, Jesus Christ will come to earth to receive his due glory of all mankind, and all the angels in heaven.
And I suspect--
that day will make the Olympic Ceremonies in Beijing--
look like a 2nd Grade school play
in comparison.
May Christ be praised and rule in our hearts!
Yet, in it all---think about this now----not one mention of God--the benevolent Creator who made mankind with all its potential. No credit given, not a word, not even a hint. It's as if man did it all himself. Four hours, millions of dollars, and billions of viewers, and God isn't invited. God is shut out. God, who made us all, and gave us our incredible minds and bodies...and not even a hint of thanks or even acknowledgement.
Is it a wonder that He sent his Son to die for us? To reclaim His Glory from the evil one (satan) ho seeks to rob God of all Glory?
Ponder this...
For all the majesty and glory of the Olympic Games and celebrations----one day, Jesus Christ will come to earth to receive his due glory of all mankind, and all the angels in heaven.
And I suspect--
that day will make the Olympic Ceremonies in Beijing--
look like a 2nd Grade school play
in comparison.
May Christ be praised and rule in our hearts!
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