Usain Bolt explodes out of the starting blocks. The crowd
begins to pulsate with excitement. 
As he heads down the
final stretch he easily pulls away from the other sprinters and crosses the
finish line as the fastest man in the
world.
The Gold Medal is placed around his neck as the crowd roars
with approval.
Question: Who finished 7th or 8th in that race?
The answer is: Richard
Thompson from Trinidad and Tobago and Asafa Powell from Jamaica. (But I’m sure
you already knew that 😉
You see in this same race these two men and the other 5 who
didn’t place trained for years for this moment. They had worked as hard as
humanly possible to be at their peak physical performance for this race.
Then just like Usain Bolt when that starting pistol went
off, they gave every ounce of effort possible to bring their homeland a medal.
BEST WASN’T GOOD ENOUGH.
There is something from my past I’m not crazy about
admitting.
I didn’t start for my High School Varsity Basketball Team – I came off the bench.
You see from the time I started playing basketball when I
was 5 – I dreamed of starting for the Varsity team and going to the State
Tournament.
I worked as hard as I could for years. Practicing at the
YMCA and in my back yard. Playing in extra tournaments, lifting weights and
going to basketball camps.
end – I still wasn’t good enough to start on Varsity Basketball.
These two examples aren’t isolated incidents though.
And I actually believe they are more the norm for most
people’s life experience.
For every Michael
Jordan there’s a Jud Buechler
sitting at the end of the bench.
For every Michael
Phelps and Lance Armstrong there
are many other swimmers and bicyclists you will never hear of.
bench. On any level (High School, College and Pro) you will see a ton of guys
who never take off their warm-up jerseys. Way more than the number of starters or stars.
All across
the board you can see examples of people’s best not being good enough.
in our relationship with God?
When I am challenged by someone about something in my life –
I take it hard. Often times too hard.
In the last couple months my friends here in Korea have
challenged me on a few things in my life that needed to change.
From the depths of who I am I want to look, smell and act like Jesus Christ. I want to love people well and know His
love. I want to be the strong man of God
this world needs.
Everything in my life
revolves around this.
falling short of this aim.
I receive this feedback and in trying to learn the lesson
begin questioning everything about my heart, maturity and growth.
In the end I gain the lesson but along with it comes a lot
of drama.
is teaching me how to Cut The Drama and Gain the Lesson.
