Tag Archives: athlete

Florence Chadwick

June 27, 2012 kensapp Leave a comment

This coming 4th of July, we want to remember Florence Chadwick and celebrate her determination some 60 years before. It wasn’t the day of her greatest triumph, it wasn’t her most glorious moment. It was the time of her greatest defeat. It was also the time she decided never to give up ever again. As we celebrate Independence Day, let us also remember our independence from a life of sin and to never lose sight of Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

Focused on the Goal

Her goal was the California coastline a 34 km swim from Catalina Island. It was no more distant than the width of the English Channel, a goal she had already conquered as the first woman to swim it from both directions. Although she was a seasoned long-distance swimmer with incredible stamina, she trained arduously to prepare herself to achieve her goal.

July 4th, 1952
Millions watched on national television, as 34 year old Florence Chadwick began her swim. The water was icy cold; the fog so thick she could hardly see the support boats alongside her. As the hours passed, she was repeatedly stung by jellyfish. Sharks had to be driven away with rifles. Yet she pressed on, determined to achieve her goal.

15 hours later
Numbed with the cold, she was ready to give up. Her mother and her trainer were in a boat at her side. “Florence. You are almost there. Don’t give up now.” Encouraged by her mother’s admonition, she continued to swim.

Failure
Fifteen hours and fifty minutes after she began her swim, the support team reluctantly agreed to pull Florence from the water. Several hours later, after she warmed up, she realized she had given up only a few hundred meters from her goal! If she had continued just a little while longer, the waves would have carried her to the beach. “If I could have just seen the land for myself, I would have made it!”. She told reporters it was not the sharks, the fatigue, or even the cold water that defeated her. She had been defeated by the fog alone. It had obscured her goal and blinded her reason, her eyes and her heart.

Never give in to defeat.
1952 was the only time Florence Chadwick ever quit. Two months later she swam that same channel. The water was still ice cold and still inhabited with sharks. Once again fog obscured her view. But this time she pressed on, BELIEVING that somewhere beyond that fog, her goal would be reached. Not only was she the first woman to swim the Catalina Channel, but she beat the men’s record by two hours!

Take It to the Next Level

Lessons to be learnt

The Journey
In every race there are stages. In the beginning there is anticipation, excitement, eagerness to get started. Adrenaline and energy are high. Then there is the routine. A pace is set. Things proceed as expected. Practiced experience, skill, and training prevail. Then there is the struggle, the time when you hit the proverbial wall, when there is the urge to quit and only discipline and tenacity carry you through. Finally there is the finish. The moment when the goal is within your sight and grasp, that last rush, that knowing that the end is near if you just press on a little bit more. And ultimately, there is the joy, the satisfaction that comes when you have completed that which you set out to do. The same is true of our spiritual lives. The Christian life is a journey. We’ve each been called to a journey “And let us run with endurance the race that God has SET BEFORE US” (Hebrews 12:1) And what do you do when you’ve lost your direction, when the journey is confusing? “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2)

Training
Training is essential to success. Training is not a single event, completed and done. Training is not something done once-in-a-while, when time allows. And training certainly isn’t something that is only done when you feel like it. Talk to any successful athlete in any sport and they will tell you of their discipline of training to reach “a goal”. Goals are a key aspect of training. Training always has a goal, an objective in mind. And depending on that goal, your training will be different. Swimmer, runners, and various athletes train differently. Each needs a different set of muscles, a different set of skills. Consistent training builds the muscles, the stamina, the skills to reach the goal ahead. “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” (1 Timothy 4:8; See also 1 Corinthians 9:24-27) And what do we do when our discipline is lacking? When the training has been neglected? When we simply don’t feel like it? “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith”

Purpose
We each have a goal. Even Christ had a goal set before him and a journey to get there. That purpose for us is to bring glory to God. It is to do what he created us to do. We are each here for a reason. We each have a place in God’s divine scheme of things. “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mothers womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (Psalm 139:13-16) What do we do when we have lost our purpose? Or never found it in the first place? When we are clueless and lost? “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith”

Endurance
Endurance comes only when you’re willing to press on through the routine, the struggles, the urge to give up, and the pain knowing that at the end there will be joy. It’s a choice to not merely start, but to finish. It is something that is developed by constantly pushing your limits. “Run in such a way to get the prize I train my body and make it my slave” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27) What do we do when we it seems that we simply cannot go on? When our strength is failing? “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith”

Focus
It’s not enough to know that life is a journey toward a goal, to fulfill a purpose. It’s easy to get distracted, to give up, to lose the will to move ahead. We must look to Jesus, hear His words of encouragement, and follow in his footsteps. The likelihood of failure is great when we lose sight of Jesus. When the risks, the dangers, the people around us cloud our view, what do we do? “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith”

Failure
All of us find ourselves in situations in life where we seem to be in over our heads, when we’re being tested or tried beyond our capabilities, where we’re overwhelmed, where we don’t think we can do it, when we feel like we can’t go on. Whether it’s a relationship, a course in school, a job, a health issue, overcoming a fear, or recovering from a mistake/ failure, God is there with you in your situation. We all go through times when things seem beyond our ability to cope, when we have been doing the best that we can, but it just doesn’t seem like it will be good enough and we are afraid of drowning. There’s solid ground ahead. The Rock of Ages will be there for you to stand upon. Failure is not the end. It’s an opportunity to begin again with greater clarity, with more experience, with renewed determination to finish the course. “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6b NAS) How do we go on? Where do we find the endurance to stay on the course set before us? “Keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish.”

Witnesses
We are not alone. Crowds of winners, of finishers, have gone on before us and showed us the way. (Hebrews 12:1) There are people alongside, with you to support you now. There will be others to follow behind you. Press on for all of them. Don’t let them down. Set the pace for others to follow so that you can say as Paul said, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 4:16, 1 Corinthians 11:1) Most importantly, press on for Christ. “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14) How can we be a testimony to those around us? “Keeping your eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish.”

Applying it to life

What is God’s purpose for your life? What is your goal? How can you find it?
Where are you in your Christian journey?
To what purpose are you training? What training do you need? How will you get it?
Have you lost sight of your goal?
Have you failed, been distracted, given up?
How can you start again, resting in Christ’s grace, and depending on his guidance and strength?
How can you stay focused on God’s calling for your life?
Find someone who has gone before you to be a guide. Find someone to press on alongside you, to be accountability partners in your journey. Reach out to someone you can guide, that you can encourage and support in their own journey of faith.

Scripture Reference
“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith” – Hebrews 12:2

Go for the Gold
Need an evangelistic Youth Camp/ Bible Study Series with an Olympic Theme?

What is salvation all about? What does it mean to be saved? This sports themed Bible Study / Camp Curriculum uses the Olympic Flag to introduce the concepts of sin (black circle), forgiveness (red circle), purity (white background), spiritual growth (green circle), heaven (Yellow Circle) and (Baptism) blue circle.
-> Tell me about “Go for the Gold”

Destined to Win
Need a Youth Camp/ Bible Study Series on “Running the Christian Race”?

The race as a metaphor for the Christian life is used in several places in the Bible. This series is a great follow up for new Christians or to re-emphasize the basics of our spiritual Journey in the Faith. This Bible Study / Camp Curriculum has a sports theme and is great for athletes as well as a tie in to the youth Olympic Games.
->Tell me about “Destined to Win”

Devotional

What Makes an Olympic Champion?

May 23, 2012 kensapp Leave a comment

You may never have heard of Kieran Behan before. In fact, if you don’t follow gymnastics, you probably wouldn’t know he won a few medals in gymnastics last year. You may not even think his performance was all that special in the field of competitive sports. Yet, what is truly remarkable about Kieran isn’t his achievements – it’s the story behind the man and the size of his dream.

The Dreams of a Youth

While other boys his age dreamed of soccer and playing in the big leagues, Kieran dreamed of gymnastics. Strange dream for someone coming from Ireland to have. After all, it’s not exactly known for the sport. But that never stopped him from dreaming.

He Never Stopped Dreaming

At 10, a tumour was discovered in his left thigh. What was to be a routine surgery took a disastrous turn for the worst when the operation messed up big time. He woke screaming in excruciating pain from the catastrophic nerve damage he suffered. To this day, he still experiences limited feeling in one foot. He was wheelchair-bound for 15 months. And he recounts, “The doctors said ‘you’ll never walk again’ and I had to see a psychiatrist who said you have to accept the worst. But that just drove me on; I wanted to prove them wrong. They were saying it was over but I wasn’t having it.” He never stopped dreaming. He made tremendous progress in his physiotherapy and before long was back in the gym.

Who knew, tragedy would strike twice. Within a few months, he slipped from the high bar and smashed his head, suffering severe damage to the part of his brain that controls balance. The slightest wrong movement would make him pass out. For the second time in his childhood, Kieran was back in a wheelchair, this time not just having to learn how to walk again but how to eat and make the simplest movements.

Again, the doctors said ‘it’s the end’; again, he went back to the gym. Only this time, just to spend hour upon hour trying to retrain his brain doing simple exercises like throwing a ball against a wall and catching the rebound. Some days, he could not even manage that.

He was out of school for a year and when he finally returned with a walking stick, he was ridiculed and taunted mercilessly. In spite of it all, he persisted. Through the hard work and determination, it took him three whole years to again become the athlete he was before the accident. All that time, he never stopped dreaming.

But that’s not all. In the relentless pursuit of his dream, he suffered a broken arm, a fractured wrist, and a torn ligament in one knee. And two years ago, just after he qualified to make his debut professionally at the European Championships, the ligament in his other knee snapped. “It was the nearest I ever came to quitting,” Kieran admits. “Sheer despair really but I’d been through a lot worse and knew that, whatever happened, I could always come back.” And he did. He never stopped dreaming and now represents Ireland as its first Olympic gymnast for 16 years.

The challenges didn’t just begin and end with the physical as if that wasn’t bad enough. He received no funding for his training. He worked at his father’s building site or cleaned the gym where he trained in the mornings and then flipped and jumped in that same gym in the afternoon. Thankfully, he wasn’t all alone in this. His parents and community rallied to raise the £12,000 a year he needed. Car washes, cake sales, collection jars; you name it, he and his friends organized it. A few months ago, he finally said goodbye to the times he had to carry a jar full of coins to the bank hoping there would be enough to cover the airfare to an overseas competition.

His father fondly recalls his son’s tenacity, “Through all this, he’s been the one who’s had the determination, belief and heart. We’ve all just been swept along on his wave. He’s guided us all the way. We believed every day because he believed, because he told us everything would be all right.”

And he’s still got that Olympic dream on his mind.

Take It to the Next Level

Nothing is impossible to Him who believes. God has an amazing calling and destiny for every one of us. Are there dreams we have given up on because they seemed too hard? Too out of reach? Surrounded by insurmountable circumstances? The problem isn’t that our dream is too big, too audacious. Joseph had a big dream himself and the road that took him to that dream was full of obstacles. Sold as a slave by his own brothers, framed for an indiscretion he didn’t commit, left to rot in jail. Yet in all those dark moments, he clung to his dream and the God that birthed it in him. He believed, just like Kieran did. And it was God that met Joseph’s belief and faith with His power.

But God goes one giant step further. He not only loves us, but also believes in us. He cheers us on when we’re at our weakest and most broken. He gives us the supernatural ability to believe in Him and the dreams He gives us. It is through Him, we can do what the world says is impossible. And that’s why we testify of His goodness and faithfulness, giving Him the glory for all He’s able to do. If Kieran’s earthly parents loved him so much that they would support him in his dream no matter what, how much more will God, our heavenly Father do for us?

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Eph 3:20-21)

Go for the Gold
Need an evangelistic Youth Camp/ Bible Study Series with an Olympic Theme?

Destined to Win
Need a Youth Camp/ Bible Study Series on “Running the Christian Race”?

Creative Teaching Ideas

The Olympic Torch Relay

May 16, 2012 kensapp Leave a comment

The Olympic Games was a significant competitive sporting event in the life and times of Jesus, carrying right on through the life of the early church and the ministry of the apostles. It’s no surprise then that the writers in the New Testamant make so many athletic references to “running races”, “training”, “prizes”, “crowns”, all of which were part of the tradition of the Games.

In a few months time, we’ll be celebrating the 2012 Olympics in London. Although the location, scale, format, participating countries, events, and well, practically everything has changed over the years, one tradition has persisted through the ages — the Olympic Torch Relay.

The traditional Lighting Ceremony recently took place on 10 May 2012 at the Temple of Hera, Olympia, home of the Ancient Olympic Games. The torch will travel around Greece, and will arrive in Athens in 2 days time and then arrive in the United Kingdom the next day.

The relay will last 70 days, with 66 evening celebrations, six Island Visits with about 8,000 people carrying the torch a total distance of about 8,000 miles (12,800 km), starting from Land’s End in Cornwall.

This year, the Olympic Torch is perforated by 8,000 circles representing the inspirational stories of the 8,000 Torchbearers who will carry the Olympic Flame.

Our Christian journey of faith reminds me a lot of this relay. It’s not the torch that bore the mark of their testimony, but the Bible. The writer of Hebrews in Chapter 11 talks about the many “inspirational heroes” of faith that came before us. Each of them with their own story about how God delivered them and how His promises were fulfilled in their lives through their faith in Him.

After they carried the “torch”, pressing on in spite of their struggles to take hold of what God had in store for them, they passed their legacy on to the next generation of “torchbearers” who would stand as a lighthouse and witness to the world around them. Their names are familiar to us. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Samson, David, Samuel, and the prophets. The writer doesn’t always tell each of their stories but the very mention of their names makes us recall their great exploits, their journeys, their stories, and sometimes, cautionary tales.

They weren’t perfect people and the Bible did nothing to sugarcoat or hide their flaws. They were murderers, thieves, adulterers, and prostitutes. They were proud, greedy, lustful, and selfish. Yet there they are — the ones we look up to. They were human in their failings but the one common thread running through their lives was that they looked to God in faith. And that’s what set them apart from the rest. They weren’t focused on their insignificant lives, they were focused on an all-powerful God.

They finished their part of the relay and God saw that their faith in Him was well placed. And now they pass their torch to us. The writer of Hebrews says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” (Heb 12:1)

They haven’t disappeared, they’re there in the stands cheering us on. Saying as it were, “This faith journey of yours is not going to be easy, it sure wasn’t for me either. But I made it. So, don’t let your sin hinder you. Keep on going. Don’t give up. You can do it.”

There’s always going to be times when we want to just give up. To say it’s too hard and drop the torch. But we’re reminded that we’re not alone in this journey of faith. All those who came before us, even God Himself is cheering us on. Our place in this journey of ours is just to keep running. To be faithful to what God has called us to do and be an example, not even a perfect one, but a very real and human hero to the next generation of believers and faithful followers of Christ!

Take It to the Next Level

What do you feel God has called you to do? It could be something that requires a lot of faith, something that you have to persevere through, it could be a struggle you have to overcome. Whatever it is, he intends to make your hopes, dreams and experiences help others find meaning through their own lives. Your big dream can ignite that same passion in others, your persistence can encourage others to find strength, and your experiences can inspire the world. God can make your story like he used the stories of the faith giants in the Bible – the good, the bad, and the ugly – to be a testimony of His grace working through our faith.

Go for the Gold
Need an evangelistic Youth Camp/ Bible Study Series with an Olympic Theme?

Destined to Win
Need a Youth Camp/ Bible Study Series on “Running the Christian Race”?

Teaching Illustrations

Whose Hands?

February 21, 2011 kensapp Leave a comment

Source unknown

A basketball in my hands is worth about $19.
A basketball in Michael Jordan's hands is worth about $33 million.
It depends whose hands it's in.

A baseball in my hands is worth about $6.
A baseball in Mark Mcquire's hands is worth $19 million.
It depends whose hands it's in.

A tennis racket is useless in my hands.
A tennis racket in Venus Williams' hands is a Wimbledon Championship.
It depends whose hands it's in.

A rod in my hands will keep away a wild animal.
A rod in Moses' hands will part the mighty sea.
It depends whose hands it's in.

A sling shot in my hands is a kid's toy.
A sling shot in David's hand is a mighty weapon.
It depends whose hands it's in.

Two fish and 5 loaves of bread in my hands is a couple of fish sandwiches..
Two fish and 5 loaves of bread in God's hands will feed thousands.
It depends whose hands it's in.

Nails in my hands might produce a birdhouse.
Nails in Jesus Christ's hands will produce salvation for the entire world.
It depends whose hands it's in.

As you see now it depends whose hands it's in.
So put your concerns, your worries, your fears,
your hopes, your dreams,
your families and your relationships in God's
hands because

It depends whose hands it's in.

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