Weekly e-News August 19
Hey everyone!
Hope your having an awesome day! You might be planning on catching some Olympics today. I read that 40% of all Americans watch some Olympics at work while they're supposed to be working, so…
if you're a member of the "Sporty Forty" here's what's ahead for your day…
If field hockey’s your thing, today’s the biggest day of your Olympiad! Gold medal match at 4:00!…
Then there's the modern pentathlon in full swing…The pentathlon is a five-skills event, including horse riding, running, shooting, swimming and fencing! Wow! If the Brits ever decide they want the colonies back, it’ll be good to have those folks around!
Wrestling?…Mens 55k and 74k finals…(Let's see…what's 2.2 lbs X 74k?)
And, WOW! the Russian synchronized swimmers Natalia Ishchenko and Svetlana Romashina just took their fourth Olympic gold medal!!
By the way, you know the feeling when you watch stuff like synchronized swimming and you say to yourself, "Well, dang! I could do THAT!"
Hold your nose-plug a second!
Here's the truth about synchronized swimmers. They practice more than any other sport! Paddling, twirling, puffing, kickin' n' grinnin', six days a week, eight to ten hours a day! Talk about prune-y fingers!
Btw, while we’re talkin’ about the up-coming football season, the chief exec of American Synchro says that an estimated 100% of synchronized swimmers will get a concussion at some point in the sport! Because, if you mess up and wind up in the wrong spot, you don’t get just one knee in the noggin! You get seven!
Synchronized swimmers regularly are under water for a whole minute at a time and are holding their breath three out of the four minutes of their routine! They can swim 75 yards under water! And hold their breath for three minutes!! Try that at home! In fact, let's try it right now!
I'll keep the time. Ready? One…two…three…GO! uuuuuhhhhh…. …..pff ….. ppff… …pssss….. … ppffffsss…..HHHHUUUUUU!!! Seventeen seconds!
Whoa. Harder than it looks.
When they do the famous "stack lift" move, the "pushers" lift the" flyer" completely out of the water without touching the bottom (of the pool!). And a "throw" is where they send her flying through the air, all while just kicking their feet under water!
Dang! I don't think I really could do that!
Its easy to have an opinion about the dorkiness of synchronized swimming 'til I realize I couldn't do it for 30 seconds no matter how many nose clips I was wearing!
Loads of things are like that!
Lots of things look and sound easier than they really are to do!
Fer instance…
“Be completely humble and gentle…” (Ephesians 4)
Or…
“Give thanks for everything…” (1 Thessalonians 5)
How ‘bout…
“Do all things without complaining…” (Philippians 2)
“Well, heck! Who can’t do that?! Quit complaining? No problem!”
Really? Give it a whirl. Try to go one day without…
You find out that being completely humble and gentle (which includes never subtly promoting thyself on Instagram or FB)…
or…
Having a thankful heart always…
or…
spending a complaint-free day…
is like synchronized swimming.
It’s harder than it looks.
2) Most of what is happening is under the surface where no one sees. (Try to not complain without having private, undisturbed and unobserved time with Jesus! Good luck on that one!)
and
3) Not everyone appreciates the skill and beauty of it.
They make fun of synchronized swimming on SNL. And loads of folks think gentleness is weak and stupid. And you might never complain all day and no one notice.
Y’know who does appreciate synchronized swimming? Coaches do. TV commentators do.
Know why?
They’ve done it! They know how hard it is!
And you have a Savior Whose done it! He called Himself “meek and lowly”! On the night He would suffer the worst, He “gave thanks!”
And in thirty three years of waking up in the morning and falling asleep at night, He never complained one time!
Even tho’ He was tempted to, just like you! (Hebrews 4.15)
He knows how hard it is! And He’s watching you! Over on one of those seven Olympic channels that nobody watches, where the pinp-pong and teakwondo is on, He watches you in your quest for Olympic victory in “Uncomplaining”.
And you hear Him say, “Gold!”
And the reporter stops you and asks, “So, do you think you’ll be back in four years?”
And you say, “For the Savior’s smile, I’ll be back tomorrow!”