Prayer for athletes - Champions for God!

Last night the various small groups of our church (Eastside Community Church) got together as we are going through a 40 day journey at present and the theme for this week was prayer. At a point Riaan (our Senior Pastor) challenged us all to prayer big because God’s word says we can do so and we can ask him. We were challenged to prayer for something big in our own lives, our families, our church, our communities and our country. But the key was to ask BIG! I could not help but feel that I needed to pray for our athletes. Many have just returned from Beijing Olympics, where according to the press, the public and the individuals whom think they are in the know, the SA team did poorly. Why, well we only received one medal.

Our athletes are being purely measured on medals. They are not being measured on whether they did their best, improved their times, met the objectives they had for the games. No it was all about medals. This is truly sad for me. We as South Africans are such a critical nation. We only want to win, we are not prepared to be “losers”. It just feels as though we are not spending all this energy on the right places. The place where it matters. In a previous posts I referred to various scriptures and I want to highlight a few again.

In Ecclesiates 9 verse 11 it reads “I also saw something else here on earth: The fastest runner does not always win the race, the strongest soldier does not always win the battle, the wisest does not always have food, the smartest does not always become wealthy, and the talented ones does not always receive praise. Tim and chance happen to everyone.”

In 1 Corinthians 9 from verse 24-27 it reads “You know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize. So run to win! All those who compete in the games use self-control so they can win a crown. That crown is an earthly thing that lasts only a short time, but our crown will never be destroyed. So I do not run without a goal. I fight like a boxer who is hitting something – not just air. I treat my body hard and make it a slave so that I myself will not be disqualified after I have preached to others.”

My prayer for our athletes and all athletes around the world is that they can become Champions for Christ. That they can learn to love him and learn to fight for the right crown. I know there are many Christian athletes out there, but my prayer is that their faith can shine through. That it can be that sweet smelling aroma that God wants it to be. And that they are not judged on how many medals they won but rather on were they champions for Christ, did they ‘fight’ with a plan or did they just hit the air. Did they use self control and worked hard to achieve the results they did and finally did they do their best, their best for God.

God Bless

SB

 

 

Time & Chance

With the Olympic show moving past the half way mark I enjoy watching the different sports. It astounds me the talent, abilities and precision that these athletes have been blessed with. As the individuals line up to compete the commentators usually refer to who is the favourite to win, who has the best world ranking for the year and what the chances are of the other competitors. On many occasions they are correct in there predictions or the winner and medalists, however there a quite few instances where the favourite is not always the winner! I have said to many an individual that once you are in the final, it is anyone’s race or anyone has a chance to win! I then sit and often wonder why did this person win and not another. Many thoughts go through my mind like, was the winner just better prepared, did the coach and athlete (who was favourite) make a mess of their final planning, did the athlete peak to soon, was the individual that won just more hungry or was this occasion just destined for a specific person!

There are so many variables that play a role in performance and especially performance on a specific day. Did an individual oversleep, or eat the wrong meal, or have equipment problems. Whatever the case may be the disappointment that I think an individual must experience, when they don’t perform like they know they are capable of is enormous. But in God’s word there is a consoling thought and passage. In Ecclesiastes 9 from verse 11 -12 it reads “I also saw something else here on earth: The fastest runner does not always win the race, the strongest soldier does not always win the battle, the wisest does not always have food, the smartest does not always become wealthy, and the talented one does not always receive praise. No one knows what will happen next. Like a fish caught in a net, or a bird caught in a trap, people are trapped by evil when it suddenly falls on them.” The challenge for athletes is to always ensure that you try your best. Do the best you can, whether it is in training or competition. God honours people who give their best and are doing it for the right reasons. Sometimes things don’t work out like we want them to, and that happens. Try and be consoled by the thoughts that ‘I have given my all, I have put everything in that I can, I have used my God given talents to the best of my abilities’ for the sport I have participated in and finally that ‘I have honoured God’ in my quest!

God Bless

SB

Praise the Lord!

“Praise the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.”

Over the last period of time it amazes me how we as a family have been blessed. Once again you realise that God is good and great and that His endless love and mercy endures forever for each one of us. We have been blessed abundantly over the now 1 year and 8 months we have been married and over our entire existences. We are blessed with

· Family that loves us

· friends that are firm in faith and that we are able to learn from, and that care for us

· a church that we can call home, where we can grow in our faith

· a cell group where we can share our faith

· a beautiful home, that we can open the doors to friends &families

· jobs that are our passions and are not just another work!

· being able to work with people to try and assist them improving there quality of life

· being blessed by being able to work with athletes that compete at all levels of sport right through to Olympic level

I read this verse from Psalm 106 verse 1 and it just made me realise how blessed we are and that I needed to share this with all.

May you all be blessed as we have been blessed, as we try and walk a closer road with God, as we try and become Gods Champions.

SB