Monday, April 7, 2014
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Okay, I'm a typical American. I like football, baseball, basketball. Luge, bobsled, slopestyle, halfpipe - not so much. But, like millions of others, something about the winter Olympics drew me in to watch sports that I know little about. It's because of the drama; the human drama. The world's best on the world stage, with much of their life invested in what will be only minutes of their life, giving it all for the glory of winning or the agony of losing.
Now look, I don't skate on a world stage. I won't be winning even an aluminum medal. But I found some Olympic takeaways for you and me.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Winning Way to Handle Losing."
That's part of what I saw in the Games at Sochi; stinging setbacks, bitter disappointments. But there were examples of how to handle it.
Number one, know the difference between what you do and who you are. No one was the face of Team USA more than snowboarder Shaun White. With two gold medals in the halfpipe, a third win and he'd have made history. He didn't win anything. No gold, no silver, no bronze. But in the midst of what had to be a crushing disappointment, he did have some helpful perspective for all of us who've watched a dream slip away. He said, "This is just one part of who I am - a big part - but I want to be more than just that."
There's all the difference in the world between, "I failed" and "I'm a failure." Yes, you may have fallen short athletically, academically, at work, or even more significantly, in a major life relationship. But "I've failed" doesn't mean "I'm a failure." You aren't what you do. You are your character, your God-given worth - which has nothing to do with your performance. No setback, no broken dream can rob you of you unless you let it.
Here's another lesson. Look for the lesson and move on. Skier Bode Miller knows the glory; I mean, a five-time Olympic medalist. But in Sochi, he finished eighth in the men's downhill. In the midst of that disappointment, one reporter said, "He painfully dissected what went wrong." Ecclesiastes 7:14 in the Bible says, "When times are good, be happy. But when things are bad, consider." Yeah, that's pretty good.
I'll tell you, when I've messed up, there were always lessons to learn. Those lessons can, if I'll man up to the responsibility, keep me from messing up again. Learn the lesson. Don't dwell on the failure. One woman's cross country star, who was expected to medal for the USA, said this after finishing as an also-ran: "So I'm just going to put today in a box and move on to the next one."
Number three lesson, look where you're going and not where you've been. Erin Hamlin just became the first American to win an Olympic gold medal in singles luge. She was a favorite to do that in Vancouver in 2010. She was out of medal contention after the first heat. About her most recent appearance in the Olympics she said, "I was really disappointed, and I knew that's not how I wanted to end my Olympic legacy. It was super-motivating." I like that. See, dwelling on the past is futile. It can't be changed. But the future is yet to be written.
And here is our word for today from the Word of God that nails that down as God wants us to look at life ourselves. Isaiah 43:18-19 says this: "Forget the former things. Do not dwell on the past. See, I'm doing a new thing. Now it springs up. Do you not perceive it?" You know that God is in the business of erasing the sins and the failures and the mistakes of our past. And He is the Lord of new beginnings.
We know that, because later in this same chapter He says, "I am He who blots out your transgressions and remembers your sins no more." That miracle of having your past erased so that you can focus on how your life will be from now on with Christ running it is a miracle only the man who died for you can do; only the man who walked out of His grave. And He offers to do that for you today; to begin that life-changing relationship which I would love to help you start. Would you visit us at our website ANewStory.com?
It's been a big deal whenever one of our grandchildren got to 20 pounds. Because that's when you get to turn your car seat around! No more looking at where you've already been. From now on, it's all eyes on where you're going! What a great way to live!