Let the Games Begin!

It’s hard to believe that the Olympics start today. I live in Vancouver.  These are our games. We’ve been hearing about the Olympics, pretty much non-stop, for seven years. In and around Vancouver the games are everywhere you look.  They are in the signs that tell me the new highway is complete, and in commercials on my TV asking me “Do you believe?” Finally, suddenly, they’re here.

I remember the day we got the news that Vancouver would be an Olympic city.  I was with a friend of mine.  She quickly did the math and realized that by the time the games arrived her eldest daughter, then in Grade 6,  would have just graduated high school.  We scoffed at the idea.  It seemed like such a long way off.

But here we are.  In the summer I sat with her, bursting with pride, as we watched Amanda cross the stage and get her diploma.   Without asking our permission time passed and it took us along for the ride.

I took a minute today to think about all the things that have changed in the last seven years.  I moved to a new city.  Both of my brothers got married and both had children.  There are people I have lost, and people I have gained.  I can honestly say I know myself better than I did in 2003.  Thank goodness for that!

With something like the Olympic Games there is a very sure sense of destination. Right from the very beginning all of this preparation was going somewhere.  In my own life, sometimes it’s not so clear.  There are seasons where I can see where I’m headed and other times when I look behind me and see that time sped up when I wasn’t looking.

Erwin McManus, in his book Soul Cravings talks at length about destiny. He speaks of our longing for it, our craving to live a life that’s going somewhere, that has a destination.  I saw a clip of him speaking about destiny the other day and there was a quote that really stuck with me.  He said “You are not supposed to just passively enter into tomorrow.  You are supposed to be actively engaged in the creation of tomorrow.”

I’ve watched the video several times (you can see it here) and I keep coming back to this one line.  What does it mean for me to be actively engaged in the creation of tomorrow.  What do I need to do to make that happen?  There is much in life that is outside of my control but McManus argues that there is much within my control as well.  What do I want my life to look like seven years from today? What do you want your life to look like?

Now is the time to think about that, to do something about it before time speeds up when I’m not looking. Tomorrow could be a grand adventure.  Are you ready? Let the games begin!

Did you watch the video? How will you engage in actively creating tomorrow?

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Tags: canada, Culture, erwin mcmanus, olympics, sports, Vancouver, World

2 Responses to “Let the Games Begin!”

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• Jeremy Massel says:

  February 12, 2010 at 1:07 pm

  Why does everyone care about the olympics so much?

• Alice says:

  February 13, 2010 at 4:27 am

  Anyone who has excelled at sport or in other fields where discipline,hard work and dedication has resulted in success, would like their success to be measured against those who have also succeeded in the same field. The people who participate in the Olympics or any other national or international competition have earned success by diligently working in their field of expertise/sport for years. It is such a privilege and great blessing for someone to be able to participate in a huge competition like the Olympics. Unfortunately, there are Biblical issues that we do not necessarily agree with,so these issues must be given to the Lord, set behind us and I feel that we as Christians can participate in the Olympics “with excellence as if to the Lord.”