Let Your Heart Be Broken

A friend of mine just returned from a mission trip to Guatemala. This morning I finished reading her reflections of the trip on her blog. (Erin's blog) Erin’s last entry about her trip describes her feelings on bonding with several of the children in Hermano Pedro orphanage. I’ll admit, it got to me. You should really read it!

(Sidebar: the older I get the more emotional I get. I usually can’t even get through a church service without tearing up for some reason….I know, I’m pitiful, but I digress.)

I began to take stock of my own heart. Sometimes I am oblivious, and sometimes just very much Scarlet O’Hara…you know, “I can’t think about this now…I’ll think about it tomorrow” when it comes to noticing people to help and to love. I get so caught up in the details of my everyday life, it seems there’s never enough time to get it all done. Before I know it, that tomorrow I’ve planned for has passed me by unnoticed and, by then I’m well into worrying about something else.

As I drove to work I contemplated Erin’s trip to Guatemala. In a very short amount of time, these children left a permanent imprint on her heart. Erin won’t be the same as before, nor can she forget the children at Hermano Pedro.

Would they touch me the same way?
Would I even open my heart for that opportunity?

OH NO! Here I go again.

You would think by now I would know NEVER-SAY-NEVER. My wonderful church (Immanuel Baptist Church) has a partnership with a church in Klintsy, Russia. For 13 summers we have had members participate in an annual mission team to Klintsy. Eight years ago, I flat out told some friends “I will never have the desire to go to Russia.” Seven years ago I said, “There’s no way I would spend my precious vacation time in a stranger’s home with no air conditioning, no electricity, no indoor plumbing!”

Six years ago, God called me to Russia and it changed my life.

In this past summer, as I first heard Erin bubbling with enthusiasm for her upcoming trip, once again, I thought to myself “Oh, I REALLY wouldn’t want to go to Guatemala.”

But just between us, after reading of Erin’s experience, I practically feel the seed planted. I can envision at some point God breaking my heart again to the suffering I cannot yet contemplate; when He turns my eyes off myself, to focus on others who are hurting but don’t have the luxury of waiting for their needs to be met.

There is a wonderful hymn by Bryan Jeffery Leech that's been stuck in my head all day that says it better than I can:

Let Your Heart Be Broken

Let your heart be broken for a world in need
Feed the mouths that hunger, soothe the wounds that bleed
Give the cup of water and the loaf of bread
Be the hands of Jesus, serving in his stead.

Here on earth, applying principles of love
Visible expression God still rules above
Living illustration of the Living Word
To the minds of all who've never seen and heard.

Blest to be a blessing, priveleged to care
Challenged by the need apparent everywhere
Where mankind is wanting, fill the vacant place
Be the means thru which the Lord reveals his grace.

Add to your believing deeds that prove it true
Knowing Christ as Savior, make Him Master too:
Follow in His footsteps, go where He has trod,
In the world's great trouble risk yourself for God.

Let your heart be tender and your vision clear
See mankind as God sees, serve Him far and near
Let you heart be broken by a brother's pain
Share your rich resources - give and give again.

I pray that God won't settle with allowing you to be oblivious to the suffering of others. I pray that He will break your heart in tender love too.

Blessings,
J

Girlfriend Community

My Sunday School lesson this week is on Living in Community. I have posted already about my girlfriends in The Sparkly Countenance of a Girlfriend. And more recently, I have written about community in Living Life Down A Little Gravel Road. However, I dedicate today’s post to my Sunday School Class and the bonds in our little community.

Every Sunday morning I am fortunate enough to gather with a wonderful group of women. We call ourselves the “Girlfriend” Class. The age of our members span the gamut from women in their 30’s to 50’s. Our class includes women in different stages of their lives; childless, small children, teenagers and adult children, members are single, married, divorced and widowed.

No matter the life circumstances, God brought us together, fellow sojourners to share the journey. We may be a varied group of women but we seek a common purpose, to become more like Christ.

The chairs in our room are arranged in a circle so we can see each other; and an added benefit, no one can hide in the back of the class. As I sit at my computer tonight and close my eyes, I imagine our class. It makes me smile as I picture each beautiful face. I love my Girlfriend Class; the women and the amazing community we have formed over the last several years.

The “Girlfriends” in our class are invested in each other; we share our lives, not just an hour on Sunday morning. We hold each other up in prayer and encourage one another. Our members rejoice together with good news, and weep together in times of sorrow. We are quick to give a hug, shoulder to lean on or a meal when it is needed.

Narrow is the road that leads to life. No one said it would be easy and sometimes the road is downright difficult to traverse. When I feel like giving up, I need a push from behind to keep me going. On the other hand, when I stray from the path and cannot find my way I require a helping hand from someone ahead of me. My Girlfriends are right along with me, we push and pull together, rooting each other on “toward the goal for which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14 NIV)

If you are a member of the Girlfriend Class I want you to know how I cherish you and thank God we share our journey together. If you are not a member, our class is always open to newcomers, we welcome anyone who is searching for community, Christian growth and to learn about, and receive God’s love.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

It's A Good Thing

Many, many moons ago, in a land far, far away I was a lonely freshman in college, 250 miles from my family. One day in my first semester I finished classes and rode the city bus to the mall. It’s hard to believe, but back in those days there were not any no-smoking bans. As I was sauntering around the mall I caught a whiff of pipe tobacco. It was the very same-smelling pipe tobacco that my dad smoked while I was growing up. It’s odd because my dad had quit smoking years before, but my brain held on to the association of him and the smell of that particular tobacco. I trailed behind the smoking man for a while just to have a sensory glimpse of something familiar, something from home.

Today, as I was leaving my office for an appointment I passed an elderly gentleman walking in the opposite direction who was smoking a pipe. It has been 20 years since my dad’s death, and many more years since he quit smoking his pipe. However, once a whisper of the aroma filled my nose I instinctively breathed deeply of that familiar scent and the memories flooded back.

My dad was a country boy who listened to classical music. He knew almost everything. Seriously. When the Trivial Pursuit boardgame came out he could win with one trip around the board; he got every question right, all the time. My love of obscure trivia is a gift from him. If my daughter Alex had known him, my own weirdness would wane in comparison. Although we thought it was normal to find him reading a tome from our set of Encyclopedia Britannica, or the dictionary. A little light reading, just for fun. Keep in mind this was way before the time of home computers and the internet.

He was irreverent, not the stuffy Cardiologist one might expect. I remember one time taking dinner to him at the hospital. He had on his usual, white coat and stethoscope draped around his neck. However, he also had a t-shirt with a big Superman emblem that showed underneath his white button down shirt and tie. And his socks never matched! My dad was color blind, but if you pointed out that one sock was blue and one was black, he would exclaim “I have another pair just like it at home!”
We lived in a nice quiet neighborhood, but my dad used to shoot his shotgun at midnight to welcome in the New Year, startling the neighbors. He put his stereo speakers in the open windows and piped John Philip Sousa marches while we raked leaves. And in the summer he could beat even my brothers with a bigger splash doing a cannonball into the pool.

My sister Susan loves to tell of a time he went to pick her up from high school. As she stood waiting for him among a throng of her classmates, dad drove up. He had our mother’s shoes tied together and slung over the rear view mirror. Another sister was on a date only to find a salmon patty he had hidden in her purse. Poor Bonny was the brunt of numerous practical jokes. He would have us little sisters short-sheet her bed, or what we called make a “pie” bed. Once he wrapped her toilet seat in plastic wrap. I don’t know where he came up with them, but he went through a stage of putting different critters on her bed.

I remember many of the silly things he used to do. More importantly I remember how he loved his family! His love for us was surpassed only by his love for God. He lived an exemplary Christian life which was modeled by Titus 2:7-8

In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.

I am thankful for my dad’s legacy of Christian love and kindness. To this day I still hear from his former patients how his gentle spirit ministered to them. The very manner in which he lived his life was a witness of God’s goodness. I’m also thankful that even a hint of pipe smoke brought forth a comforting sense of my dad for me this afternoon.

I know the sense of smell conveys powerful connections. As I stop and smell the roses - or pipe tobacco, in life, I should choose to reflect on the memories evoked that teach me to also become an example to others by doing what is good.

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.

Living Life Down a Little Gravel Road

In my last post I mentioned that my mom, sisters, their families and mine, live down the same little gravel road. Yesterday my friend Jennifer responded to that post and sent an email to a small group of friends that said,
“I feel that way about you all - you know - friends are the family you choose for yourself”

My response, “But unfortunately, WE don't get to live all together on a private gravel road.... and that makes me sad.”

Jennifer: “Maybe someday we will all live together down a little gravel road in Florida near the beach and Cardinals' spring training camp!”

We all started thinking about living down a little gravel road together and decided that in the evenings we would sit on the front porch, drink ice tea and discuss the meaning of life, or maybe laugh and be silly and generally WOW ourselves with our fabulosity (see blog The Sparkly Countenance of a Girlfriend.) At any rate, what ever we talk about would be in person not via the internet like now.

If you read my last post you know that even though my family and I live close, we don’t often get to visit on each others’ front porches. We all stay busy and have to leave our little compound for work, church, shopping, errands, school and other activities. We can’t live our entire lives down the gravel road…..

Or can we?

Speaking metaphorically “living life down the gravel road” can signify living in community - or common unity. In that case I CAN live my entire life down the gravel road.

We are not meant to live in isolation.

Genesis 2:18 And the Lord Said “It is not good for the man to be alone.”

And thus, community was born of Adam’s rib.

All the way back to the Garden of Eden encouragement was an essential component to living in community, although I’m not too sure God was pleased that Eve encouraged Adam to eat of the tree of knowledge. And later, Moses provided continual encouragement to the Israelites for forty years as they wandered in the wilderness.

In Hebrews we are also instructed to “encourage one another.” It is a give-and-take commodity. As Bill Withers sang:

Lean on me, when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
'Til I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on.

Sometimes I am the lean-er; needing the support and encouragement of others in my communities. At other times I am the lean-ee, holding up others and cheering them on.

I am thankful to have communities that encourage and hold me up. I can remember a time when I was alone and lonely and that makes the fellowship I enjoy now all that much sweeter.

Hebrews 10:23-25 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another–and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

The Tie That Binds

Boy am I tired! I’ve been putting in some long hours for work this past week, including Saturday and Labor Day Monday. However, Sunday, the Sabbath, I did rest. Well, maybe not rest exactly, but I didn’t work.

After church last Sunday, Phil and I joined my sister Susan, her husband Craig, and my sister Bonny - sans her husband Richard, who WAS working, in a short jaunt to a winery in Southern Illinois. Although Phil and I live on the same little private gravel road as Susan and Craig, and Bonny and Richard, (not to mention my mom and sister Kathy) there is never enough time to squeeze in any leisurely visitin’, so this was a rare treat.


We drove for about an hour, the boys in the front keeping up with the golf scores or the upcoming football game between UK and U of L. Or maybe they were listening in to us girls in the back while we were busy catching up with each others’ lives and kids - and of course, cute shoes.

It didn’t take long before we were turning off the highway and looking for Lick Creek Road. You know you’re in the midst of God’s country when you’re on a road named Lick Creek. We drove up a narrow, twisting road, keeping an eye out for the entrance into Blue Sky Winery.

After a short while we began to see vineyards dotting the countryside…And there it was, the Tuscan-style gate into the winding drive that led to the winery. As we drove in we could see the terracotta tiled roof atop the stone-looking façade of the building. The parking lot was full and we were directed to the supplemental parking next to long rows of net-covered grape vines.

As soon as we got out of the car we could hear guitar music, talking and laughing coming from the courtyard area. We made our way to the entrance and paid our $2 deposit for a wine glass, and $1 for five tokens allowing us the opportunity to taste up to five different wines. Folks were crowding around the bar where the bartenders were furiously pouring each allotted taste.

The indoor tables were taken so we made our way to the patio. It was a picturesque setting and a beautiful, if hot, day. Above our heads it was almost perfectly clear with only a few puffs of small clouds floating in the azure sky. The green grounds sloped down toward a pond. There was a lovely little portico overlooking the water, and a bit further was a rock feature with a peaceful waterfall.



The winery was a picturesque place to spend the afternoon. But for us, or at least for me, it wasn’t about the surroundings, or the wine, it was about hanging out together. Being with my family is so comfortable. There is constant current that keeps us connected, in sync with each other so conversation is always easy and the only effort required is in trying to outdo each other with inside jokes.

Here is my nerdiness raring it’s head; I love my family and I truly enjoy spending time with them. There is no need for us to have false pretenses. We know each other too well to be fooled by masks we often try to hide behind. But more importantly, masks are not needed. With my family I am free to be myself and still be confident of their unwavering love, as I too love each of them unconditionally.

I was sorry to see the afternoon end so quickly. It’s hard to leave a party when you’re still having fun. It made me think of a hymn that we sing at our church from time to time:

Blessed be the tie that binds,
Our hearts in Christian love.
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above.

When we asunder part,
It gives us inward pain;
But we shall still be joined in heart,
And hope to meet again.

Wouldn’t it be lovely for everyone to love, and be loved in this same manner?

And then God sent me a little “thwack” across my mind, as He does from time to time to get my attention. I know this kind of love sounds impossible and in our small human minds it is. Yet that’s exactly what God calls us to do. God is the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love, and knowing that, the fellowship we all share together should be like to that above.

John 15:9-12 (NIV) As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

Go The Distance

This week I’ve been in Indianapolis attending a convention for work. My family stayed behind at home. I was a little excited to have time to myself, for writing, thinking, spending time with the Lord and generally contemplating life; all the things that get interrupted at home.

Even without the interruptions I still haven’t been able to focus. Apparently I have inadvertently lugged along some superfluous habits that continue to vie for my attention; television, internet and chatting with friends. My pastor refers to these as contrived distractions. Like Martha, these distractions keep me from choosing what is better.

Luke 10:39-42(NIV)...She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.

I have been discouraged about my lack of progress this week. I can’t concentrate, my mind is lazy. I’m not even going to get into my physical laziness, we can discuss that at a later date.

Last night as I was praying about these shortcomings I heard God ask “Is your love lazy?” Since then I’ve been reflecting on this question. I believe it addresses the fulfillment of my calling. God has put a desire in my heart; a yearning to share His love with others through the telling of my own journey.

Pursuing this goal is tremendously difficult work for me. It involves uncovering memories that are so intense I wonder if it is worth the pain. Many times I want to give up trying. Oftentimes I willingly fall into the trap of contrived distractions.

Yet I know I can’t give up, I am called (or whispered) to “Go the distance.” I admit I am lazy in many areas of my life. All things being equal, I’ll take the easy route….most of the time. But I can’t be lazy in this task. I love Him too much to quit. And in order to bring good from my own agony I must persevere to tell of the light of God’s love even through the darkness.

Isaiah 38:17-19 (NIV) Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back. For the grave cannot praise you, death cannot sing your praise; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness. The living, the living—they praise you, as I am doing today; fathers tell their children about your faithfulness.

What The Heck...?

Tonight I am in Indianapolis to attend the National Government Services “Mission Possible” convention which begins tomorrow. – WOOT! as Alex would say signifying a sarcastic level of enthusiastic excitement.

I saw a peculiar thing this morning while I was driving here. I passed an older model van pulling a small camper. As I got along the side of the van I noticed that they had a window unit air conditioner installed in the back side window, and held in place with duct tape. It was the oddest thing and gave me a quick flash of the Beverly Hillbillies. I have been mulling over the reasoning of that van rolling down the highway with the a/c hanging out of the window.

This little conundrum has occupied a corner of my thoughts today. I don’t get why people do the things they do. If I let it, the uncertainty of not knowing will just eat at me like an itch I can’t reach. In the end, what difference does it make to me? But, I have an inquiring mind, as I told a friend of mine earlier tonight.

Right now I’m not watching the National Democratic Convention, (sorry Michele.) I am watching Intervention on A&E. Phil can’t understand why I watch a program about addicts. But this show allows me to move beyond seeing “addicts” to getting a glimpse of hurting people. It gives me answers and opens my heart in compassion for them.

It is so easy to judge others on the basis of our own lives. I also find it’s true that judgment can quickly turn to empathy once you know of their experiences. Unfortunately, we are not called to know each others’ stories in order to be kind and loving toward them. We are called feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty and invite in the lonely even when they don’t look like us.

And, maybe it’s a good thing that all people don’t look like me. Here’s what other drivers might have seen in my car during parts of my drive today; a woman, traveling alone but laughing hysterically, talking to herself or maybe even bopping in her seat. Because they weren’t in the car with me to hear the radio maybe they were also saying “What the heck…? It could certainly appear that I was wacked out – or “weird” to quote Alex.

Matthew 7:3-4 (NIV) “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?”

The Gift of Love

Bob was a man who has made a lasting impression on my life. I didn’t get to know him long enough; and I didn’t get to know him well enough. He passed away several years ago. I guess I’m thinking about Bob because last week would have been his birthday, and in honor of that each of our ushers at church wore a yellow rose in their lapel last Sunday.

When I started back to church after a long, self-imposed hiatus I came dragging a load of ugly baggage. Even though it was a heavy burden, I couldn’t relinquish the familiar weight. I was afraid of the “nakedness” I would feel if I didn’t have my insecurities to wrap around myself.

After I had been attending on Sunday mornings for a while I began to take Alex to the Wednesday night meal. Every week Bob was outside of the kitchen helping wipe down trays. I can just picture him, a tall and thin man, with a big grin on his face, a head of white hair, and wearing an apron with a dish towel in one hand and a tray in the other. I never saw him when he wasn’t smiling. He knew my name, and who I was right away, and acted as if we had been friends for years. Bob never let me get away with keeping my head down and trying not to be noticed. He always did notice. He never let a chance go by to compliment me, to let me know he was glad I was there; and he always made me feel special.

I truly thought Bob knew what the previous years of my life had been like and he was either trying making up for it, or trying to prove to me that I was a person worthy of kindness. Besides just being wonderful, I loved Bob for making me believe that I was special.

After Bob’s death as we recalled memories of him I was shocked to learn that Bob hadn’t see me as an outcast needing his confirmation. In those last years of his life as he was building up my self esteem I never even noticed he treated everyone the same way, making each person he came in contact with felt “special.” What a magnificent gift he had for loving each person he came in contact with without judgment and with his whole heart. I am honored to have known him and thank God for the privilege.

1 John 4:7 (NIV) Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

Lessons from Cooper

Last summer we were at PetSmart, just looking, I promise, no plans whatsoever to adopt. (If it were up to Alex we would bring home a stray dog or cat every time we went.) But guess who fell in love-at-first-sight? I saw this little puppy with big ol’ ears and long legs, and he was just the cutest thing ever. We got him out and carried him around with us, we put him back in his crate….and we went back and got him out again. I really don’t know what it was about him that made me want to take him home with me, but I just couldn’t resist. Of course, Alex and Phil were all for it. So, we adopted Cooper.

Cooper is a handful. My explanation for this is because he is a boy. After all, our cats are girls and they aren’t any trouble, Sadie, our first dog, is a girl and she isn’t any trouble….but then there’s Cooper - thirty-two pounds of mischief wrapped up in fur. But he is, to me anyway, adorable.

Cooper chases our Sassy-cat, he eats cat food, he barks, a lot and ear-piercingly. He wants outside, he immediately barks to come back in, but when we open the door he runs off to the woods. He doesn’t know his place is on the floor and not the furniture. He chases our car. He eats box turtles out of their shells. (I’ve never seen that many turtles in the yard, but he sniffs them out somehow.)

Last fall every few days he proudly brought us different parts of a deer. On Thanksgiving morning he brought us a deer head; not just the skull, but the entire head. It made Phil almost sick to see it on our front porch. Maybe I have a sick sense of humor because it cracked me up. In the next few days he brought home an antler, the lower part of a leg and a big hunk of fur. A couple weeks later I saw him running into the yard and it looked like he had a broom in his mouth. When he got close enough for me to see I realized it was the spine and ribcage of a deer. If Phil hadn’t been putting all those “spare parts” in the trash, we could have almost made us a facimile of a deer to showcase in our living room.

This little, hyper bundle of bark with ears has taught me some things. Cooper is always so happy to see us he can hardly stand it. As soon as we come in the door after work or school he is jumping up to say hello. He wants us to know that we were missed and now he’s practically beside himself to see us again. He wants to be loved, he wants attention, and he wants to be in our laps, or snuggled up as close as he can.

Sometimes, Cooper leaves such a mess he just has to be punished. Like the time he chewed a half-full bottle of Pepto Bismol, which left a hot pink stain on the carpet, and on Sadie's rear - I guess she sat in it. Or when he found a roll of toilet tissue and completely unwound it; toilet papering our living room. But after he’s gotten a spank on the hind end he wants to know he’s forgiven.

Cooper is scared of thunder. If there is a storm he jumps onto the bed with us and shakes and whines. He tries to burrow himself underneath one of us for safety. And he cannot go to sleep until all is quiet again.

Yep, Cooper is a handful, but just so darn cute and affectionate we can’t help but to love him. Sometimes I think I should be more like Cooper towards God. I ought to bring Him gifts that are meaningful to me and lay them at His porch; ummm, I mean His feet.

Instead of taking God’s companionship for granted, I ought to be like Cooper, so happy to be with God that I can’t contain myself. I need to snuggle up with Him and give Him all my attention. I should desire to be in God’s presence at all times.

Like Cooper, I sometimes make a mess of things. And, sometimes it feels like God is giving me a little spank on my hind end. At these times I need to seek forgiveness and then be re-assured of His mercy.

When I face the storms of life I need to remind myself that God is my refuge. There is no need for me to shake and whine. God is there for me to find safety and comfort in time of trouble.

I picture God in His Heaven watching me saying “Yep, that Joan, she’s a handful, but look, isn’t she so darn cute when she runs to me? Isn’t she adorable when she spreads my love? Isn’t she precious because she’s my beloved daughter?”

Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

The Thrill of Victory!

This is day 6 of the 2008 Olympics. If you have been anywhere in sight, or sound of the TV you will have seen and/or heard of Michael Phelps. This young man is a swimming dynamo. He has earned the all-time Olympic record of 11 gold medals. So far this time around he is taking home five golds, and is working toward an historic 8 gold medals in the same Olympic games.

But even as amazing as Michael is, he is not the only outstanding competitor in Beijing. Spend any time viewing the coverage of the Olympics and you will see a great number of athletes who are incredibly talented. Besides being tremendously fit, there is another difference between them and us regular non-Olympic folk. It isn’t just the talent that got them to Beijing this summer. Oh they’re gifted of course, but they have also spent years working and training for this moment.

In order to enhance their God-given talents they practice other preparation methods in addition to training in their own sport. For example, swimmers also weight train. They can use cycling, running and resistance stretching to help strengthen their bodies. I read of a swimmer who works with a gymnast out of the pool, on his handstands and balancing to help with his strokes and turns in the pool.

Take Michael, he is an extraordinarily talented swimmer. The fact that he is a virtuoso in the pool though does not mean he can swing his lanky torso and long legs in a circle around the pommel horse. Being capable of an excellent flip turn at the end of a lap is not an indication of excellence in performing a back flip on the mat. By the same token World Champion gymnast Shawn Johnson most likely cannot power lift 260 lbs, or be an all-star on the basketball court. Clearly, Michael and Shawn are not gifted with the same talents. I am very grateful they, and all the other US Olympians have different skills so they can use their individual talents to represent us in all the different competitions.

Here are several lessons that can be learned from watching the Olympics

• We have a responsibility not to bury our talents, but to exercise them to increase. In being good stewards we will work and train our talent for the plans God has for us. Matthew 25:21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!’
• In training our gift we must not neglect the benefits of cross training with other spiritual gift practices. We learn in 2 Peter chapter one, in order to participate in the divine nature of God we should make every effort to add to our faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge.
• Just like Michael and Shawn we each have different gifts to share, but each of us is gifted by God for the profit of all. As the Bible states in 1 Corinthians 12:4-7 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.

Unfortunately, we can’t all be Olympic athletes bringing home the gold, or silver or even bronze medal. But we do have our own talents meticulously doled out by the Holy Spirit, in order for us to cultivate and to share, with our families, communities, and the world.

So don’t be discouraged if you can’t break a world swimming record like Michael Phelps, or twist and flip in the air a la Shawn Johnson. I promise you have other talents to perfect. In the meantime, get some popcorn, sit back, relax, and root your favorite team on to victory!