Olympic Archer’s Faith Gives Competitive Nudge
Raymond Harrison | August 14, 2008“The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7
Think About It
Have you fallen into the trap of “playing the game”? It’s easy to show up at the appointed time, say the right things and look the part. Sadly we are only fooling ourselves. God calls us to “be new creatures” not just in outward appearance, but in transformed hearts. Are we playing the part of a Christian or yielding to the Prince of Peace to radically change our hearts? Think about it.
CONSIDER
“If your treasure is on earth, you are going from it; if it is in heaven, you are going to it.” Unknown
JEREMIAH AT HARVARD
Three decades after Solzhenitsyn’s speech, where do we find ourselves?
by Charles Colson with Anne Morse
Thirty years ago this summer, a 59-year-old bearded dissident, whose writings helped expose and eventually bring down Soviet tyranny, stood facing rows of robed faculty and graduates at Harvard’s historic Yard for its 327th commencement. Expectations ran high. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was admired for his literary achievements and lionized by the faculty, if not for his outspoken views on Communism, at least for the fact that he was an oppressed intellectual.
Solzhenitsyn delivered each line in his high-pitched voice in Russian. The translation blunted the impact somewhat—in fact, there were even sporadic bursts of applause. But soon enough, outraged professors realized that Solzhenitsyn was charging them with complicity in the West’s surrender to liberal secularism, the abandonment of its Christian heritage, and with all the moral horrors that followed.
As it happened, this summer I was reading a tattered copy of Solzhenitsyn’s speech at the same time I was studying Jeremiah in my devotions. I was struck by the chilling parallels between the dissident’s words and Jeremiah’s warning to the Israelites…. Read this in full here.
VERSE TO PONDER
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” James 1:22
CONSIDER
“As a very little dust will disorder a clock, and the least grain of sand will obscure our sight, so the least grain of sin which is upon the heart will hinder its right motion toward God.” John Wesley
OLYMPIC ARCHER’S FAITH GIVES COMPETITIVE NUDGE
As much as she hates to admit it, Jennifer Nichols acknowledges that her archery training isn’t full of thrills. “There’s some really boring training time in archery sometimes,” Nichols said.
The U.S. Olympic archer shoots at her target from a distance of 70 meters. After every six shots, she walks to the target to retrieve her arrows. She usually shoots at least 120 arrows every day -– sometimes as many as 200. Do the math, and that means she spends a lot of time walking.
So Nichols and her sister Mandy, who trains with her, found a way to redeem the time -– by reciting passages from Scripture. Jennifer has memorized the first five chapters of Proverbs. Her sister has made it through six or seven chapters. They recite verses to each other as they walk back and forth to the targets. “We want to verbally speak it so it gets into our lives and into our heads,” Nichols said.
You don’t have to talk to Nichols for long before discovering that the Bible indeed has found its way into her life. Her Scripture-saturated language is proof that the Bible memory exercises have worked, just as her prowess with a bow has proven the success of her archery training.
Nichols is the top-ranked recurve archer in the United States and is ranked ninth in the world. She begins her competition in the Beijing Olympics Aug. 9 with the qualification round followed by the elimination rounds beginning Aug. 12.
The 24-year-old Nichols is the United States’ best hope for a medal in the competition. But Nichols discovered during the 2004 Olympics in Athens -– when she placed ninth -– that winning a medal is not her top priority.
“After that year, I realized that winning and my achievements in archery became a little too important to me,” Nichols said. “I had formed my identity around those things.”
Such an attitude can be common among athletes, who face a constant emphasis on winning. By placing her security on the outcome of her matches, Nichols went through plenty of emotional ups and downs.
Now, with God working in her life, her outlook has changed. “Right now, that’s kind of where the theme is for me -– looking to Him and identifying with Him, rather than basing all my security on my archery,” Nichols said.
Her father Brent has helped, reminding her that archery is what she does. It’s not who she is. But doesn’t that mindset lead to complacency? Doesn’t it douse the competitive fire and make losing more palatable? Hardly. For Nichols, the opposite is true.
“This does not discourage me from working hard to be skilled in my sport or to develop a high standard or performance,” she wrote on her blog. “Rather, it frees me to perform my best, train my hardest and shoot my strongest because I need not fear failure nor my weaknesses. Because I am living for the glory of God, offering all that I can, all that I am, I will be acceptable in the eyes of my Lord. I strive to trust Him to determine the outcome of competitions as well as the path of my life. He is faithful.”
ON PRAYER
“There is a mighty lot of difference between saying prayers and praying.” John G. Lake
LESSONS FROM JAMES MACDONALD
Head vs. Heart
That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death. Philippians 3:10
I have great respect for our nation’s leaders so you can imagine how honored I felt to be invited to the White House not long ago.
It was during a particularly intense season on the national scene and the President was calling together Christian leaders, specifically those who lead large groups of praying believers. He requested our prayer on his behalf and on behalf of our nation. He dismissed the press, closed the doors around us, and opened his heart.
As great as it was to be there, all of us have been invited to a far greater place than the White House. The great, resounding message of Scripture is God’s invitation: Come to Me. Know Me. Enter into a relationship with Me . Get to know My heart.
Does that desire burn in your heart? Hosea 6 says, “Let us press on to know the Lord.” Philippians 3:10, “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection.” There’s urgency in those verses.
What exactly does it mean to know the Lord? Certainly it’s more than facts. Most of us can point to a time when we had head knowledge of God but not heart understanding. We’re after both. You probably have been around people who know a lot about God and may even have half the Bible memorized but it’s made no difference in their lives. It’s not enough just to have facts about God, your heart understanding of those facts has to impact you at the core of your being.
Key question: Do you really want to know God? Do you want your own relationship with Him? Do you want to experience His blessing and power?
Don’t be satisfied with just head-knowledge, let your heart be gripped by His greatness so you are never the same. You’ve been invited to know the Lord. Press on and get the real thing.
When I got back to the church after visiting the White House, everyone wanted to hear how it went and ask “what was he like?” That’s the same question people will be asking you when it’s clear your heart belongs to Him. When you have a fresh, vibrant relationship going with Him, it can’t help but show up in your life.
LAST OUT
Are you praying for the men at your table?
Upcoming dates. August 24, September 7 & 21
Press on, for the upward call….
- Raymond
