Oh, How I Love the Olympics...

Just over a month ago, many people sat and watched in amazement as the Olympics went underway. I was one of those people. I love watching the Olympics! I don't know exactly what it is, but I can't get enough! Maybe it's because I'm a competitor. Maybe it's because I'm an athlete. Maybe it's because I love watching sports. Maybe it's the amazement of what these athletes can do. Whatever the reason, I just know that what these people can do amazes me every single time. It's nothing new really, the same events every four years, the same countries favored in certain events, it's all the same. But there's just something about watching these athletes compete on such a high level that intrigues me. 

As I sat watching the Olympics this year, something was different in my heart. This year I thought about all of the training that each athlete must have gone through to get to this point. The hours of training, the amount of time spent just in one day that they must dedicate to their sport, the number of sacrifices they must have made. Normally, I just watch in amazement like these people are not completely human. But they are. They are no different than me in our make-up as human beings. There was something different about them though...I just couldn't put my finger on it. What is so different about these people? Why do they get to go to the Olympics and I don't? The very clear, simple answer is this: they train for it and I do not. Beyond this though, the conclusion that I came to is this: the difference between them and me is that they are focused on a goal and are working towards it and I am not. Excuse me, was not. Here is how God has changed my heart, starting with these thoughts about the Olympics...

Testimony Time

Currently, my small group is in the middle of sharing our testimonies with each other and last week it was my turn to share. I started thinking about what exactly a testimony is and why we share them with one another. I realized that my testimony is a powerful tool that God may use to show other people how He has worked in my life and could work in theirs. For this reason, I am going to share my testimony with you. Please forgive the length of this post, but I could not bear splitting in two.

In my younger days, I wished that my testimony was different, but as I look back now, I am truly thankful that God decided to spare me from a lot. I used to wish that I was a drug addict or had something crazy that God saved me from and changed my life! God had other plans for me, though. He chose to give me a life that did not have any of these trials, but rather a life that I consider blessed to have lived. I grew up with Christian parents, who took me to church and AWANA on a regular basis. I accepted Jesus at a young age, probably 5 or 6. All I really understood at the time was that you either go to heaven or hell when you die, only one of which I wanted to go to. I knew that if I accepted Jesus, I could go to heaven, so that's what I did. Most of my childhood was spent memorizing Bible verses and being a good kid. It wasn't until 7th grade that I truly understood that Jesus was real and this whole "Christian thing" was about having a relationship with him, not about following rules and feeling guilty when I screwed up. I re-dedicated my life to Christ at the Districts youth conference in Appleton, WI and started praying, reading my Bible and trying my very best to have a relationship with Him. 

Why Start A Blog???

Starting a blog was not an easy decision. In fact, I apparently had made this decision once before and never posted a single thing. Turns out, that seems to be the case with more blogs than not. As I was deciding on my address name, I kept trying different phrases that meant something to me (i.e. - betransformed, donotconform, livingsacrifice, etc.) and every single one was taken. Every. Single. One. As I kept getting the message "Sorry, this blog address is not available" I thought to myself, "There must be some really amazing blogs out there!"  Not so much. Of the 37 (or more) addresses that I typed, I found two or three real blogs that hadn't been touched since about 2008. I found a number of blogs with 1-5 posts and even some without a single post! I thought to myself, I guess I was there and did the same thing as all those people, so I shouldn't be so quick to judge. So that brings me to now...