Connections Archive

Dr Bruce Manners
Senior minister, Avondale College Seventh-day Adventist Church

Michael Phelps's 100-metre butterfly win was amazing. His time: 50.58 seconds. He edged out Milodrad Cavic of Serbia whose time was 50.59 seconds. Phelps won by 0.01 seconds.

It looked like he hadn't won. The Serbian team protested, but a super slow replay showed Phelps had touched the wall first.

This is the Olympics, where fractions of seconds make a difference. Where every point scored is important. Where a stumble can mean loss. Where simply a bad day after four-years of preparation means you lose, your effort doesn't rate the reward.

I don't know whether it's the media or whether it's something like national pride, but every time Aussies are on the field in the pool or on the track, I'm expecting a win. That's a bit sad, really, when just qualifying is a tremendous achievement.
It's hard to imagine Phelps's record of eight gold medals will ever be challenged. His achievement is so incredible. Gold is the ultimate reward for effort at the Olympics, silver is great and bronze is good.

Pity the athlete who comes fourth. It's as if they don't count. They may have the satisfaction of competing, or even of a personal best, but they don't win anything. There's no paper medal for turning up.

And it's easy for us to rate people in various ways. Gold medal personality, bronze medal talent, silver medal looks and no medal achiever. Of course, we don't use those terms, but that's what we tend to do.

Fortunately for us, God looks beyond our talent and performance. He welcomes us as winners even when we don't rate a medal of any colour.

What's better is this: He celebrates the losers who come to him-think about the Prodigal Son story-and makes us winners. That's something that not even a Michael Phelps can take away from us.

THIS WEEK
7.28: Friday night with The Otto Family

Sabbath church: Dr Darren Morton, "Eno and the Niknem"

ADRA Appeal: Last week, a disappointing beginning for the doorknock with low numbers helping. This week is the final week and we do need your help. Prepare for the doorknock, or to donate, or to raise funds in some way to help others.

Check out the Avondale College Seventh-day Adventist Church website. If you want to know what's happening, go to www.collegechurch.org.au.

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