September 2016 Pastor's Letter

As many of you did, Gayle and I spent a lot of time watching the Rio Olympics. We especially enjoyed the women's gymnastics, men's and women's swimming performance and the 2 person beach volley ball. We watched every night to witness the drama and excitement which surrounds world record setting performances. History was made again and again and it was exhilarating.

It wasn't until this week, however, that I learned unusual performance by two competitors in the women's 5000 meter race. American Abbey D'Agostino and New Zealander Nikki Hamblin who did not qualify for the medal race, were given the little known but highly prized Pierre de Coubertin Medal. The medal, awarded by the Olympic Committee for "exemplary sportsmanship", has only been conferred on 17 other recipients and is, according to the Olympic Museum, "one of the noblest honors" that can be bestowed upon an Olympic athlete. Here is a summary of their story from a post on the People magazine website on 8/16: Track and field star Abbey D'Agostino may have had one of the most inspiring moments of the 2016 Summer Olympics.  On Tuesday, during the second semifinal heat of the women's 5,000-meter race, the 24-year-old distance runner showed a remarkable case of Olympic spirit – stopping along the race to help a fallen rival and finishing the race herself despite injury. 

It all started when New Zealand's Nikki Hamblin took a tumble on the inside track. [Unable]. . . to avoid the fallen runner, D'Agostino tripped over Hamblin, stumbling to the ground herself.  Rather than get up and plow past Hamblin, D'Agostino stopped to check to see if her Olympic rival could continue and helped her off the ground . . . Continuing on, it was clear the pain of D'Agostino's ankle injury was settling in. Meters later, she collapsed to the ground. It was Hamblin this time who came to her aid, checking to see if she was okay to continue. But D'Agostino wouldn't back down. She got back up on her feet, and completed the rest of her laps at a slow pace.  Waiting for her at the finish line was Hamblin, who quickly embraced her rival in an emotional moment. Later, D'Agostino was taken away in a wheelchair by the Olympic medical team. Hamblin appeared by her side in support. 

In a subsequent interview, D'Agostino said, "The only way I . . . have rationalized it is that God prepared my heart to respond that way . . . This whole time here, He's made clear to me that my experience in Rio was going to be about more than my race performance - and as soon as Nikki got up I knew that was it." 

D'Agostino's words reminded me of Paul's citation of Isaiah in his first letter to the Corinthians: 

" . . . Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." (I Cor. 2:9 KJV)

Abbey D'Agostino received a surprising and unique award for her sportsmanship, but she has something greater on the horizon of eternity. She realizes that her life and her pursuits of excellence have a higher purpose than her own agenda. She placed herself in God's hands at Rio and God used her fame and her faith to bring glory to Himself and joy to her.

I pray that we will take D'Agostino's example to heart and will live our lives in the happy anticipation that God is preparing us for a greater joy and deeper purpose than we can imagine. I hope that all of us will be able to see that our experience of life is about daily preparing ourselves for those shining moments when God sends us an opportunity to challenge the world to acknowledge Him. Amen.