Not because the sports are actually interesting. Not because I really care if America wipes the ice with the other competitors. Not because Bob Costas is my favorite sportscaster of all time.
The reason I love the Olympics is because of the people who compete in the Olympics are normal everyday people. The vast majority of American athletes are unknown, and when the Olympics are over most of them remain that way. Sure, occasionally Olympic athletes gain fame from doing well in their sport. Everyone knows who Apolo Ohno and Shawn White are, but what about the other medal winners? What about the non-medal winners?
When the Olympics are over, most of the athletes go home, keep rocking their sports, continue in relative anonymity. But for this brief 2 week period, these athletes get to play their sport on the world stage, represent their countries and their families. And we get to cheer for these strangers.
At any other time, we're not interested in watching someone whose name we can't remember slide a big rock across ice while other nameless people sweep the ice in front of it. But this is a time when the whole world stops to watch these people play their sports. We cheer for them to win, and we enjoy watching them do what they do.
In a world where fame and popularity are prerequisites for public interest, it's refreshing to take a break from that to cheer for normal, unfamous people.
You know... I'm kind of glad God doesn't operate like us. He doesn't just watch the super Christians. God's attention isn't always on the spectacular christians in the world. God's attention is on all of us. He always cheers for us in the situations we're in. Each of us has the opportunity to do incredible things for God.
In fact, God often picks the "normal" person to do his will. One famous example is David. Even though Samuel would have picked any of David's brothers to be king, God picked the one who was still in the field with the sheep.
Jesus could have picked anyone to be his apostles, but he chose fishermen.
And now, we have an opportunity to wonderful things for God despite our position. We don't have to be famous and well known. God lets us work for him in any situation. There is no Christian Olympics of working for God, because God always uses the normal person to do his work.
That's encouraging because it means each of us can do powerful things for us.
May God bless you with the ability to do powerful things for him May you be encouraged in your walk with God. May you in turn be a blessing in the Kingdom of God.
--Tyler
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