I love the Winter Olympics. Every four years, I can't wait to watch them. I actually enjoy the Winter Games way more than the Summer Games when they come around. I don't know why that is- I don't participate in any winter sports myself. I don't ice skate, never played hockey, I'm a lousy skier, and a nominal snowboarder at best. But there is something about the winter Olympics every four years that just capture my attention & imagination. They are almost magical, mythic, to me. The snow-covered, mountainous locations, the exotic places like Lillehammer, Nagano, Torino, and Vancouver, the other-worldly beauty of each country's opening & closing ceremonies...they all just enchant me.

And of course, there are the heroes of each Games. I remember the Austrian, Franz Klammer, rocketing down the mountain in the 1976 Olympics. I became a fan of downhill skiing watching him. And the unlikely champions of the 1980 Games, the US hockey team, and their staggering win over the undefeated Soviets. What a moment. I remember watching Olaf "The Boss" Koss defeat the "Flying Dutchmen" to win gold in speedskating at Lillehammer, I think. I've never been a fan of men's figure skating, but watching Scott Hamilton do backflips on the ice, and win several golds in 1984, was amazing. And of course, the first time I ever saw this little American guy with long hair and a bandanna, Apolo Ohno, win gold in Torino, I became a fan of short track speed skating. I could go on- so many heroes, so many many memories.

These Olympics have not disappointed either! Bode Miller medaling 3x, Lindsey Vonn & Julia Mancuso medaling several times each, all three in downhill, etc., has been spell-binding. Every time Apolo races, I'm on the edge of my seat, cheering him on now with 8 medals! And in the ski jump, witnessing Simon Amman jump 145 meters, he looked like he was going to land in the parking lot! Amazing. Then Steve Holcomb and his team win the first USA gold in bobsled in 62 years. But nothing can top watching Shaun White win the gold with super-human stunts and height in the snowboard half pipe, then with the gold already his, doing one last run that included a trick no one had ever attempted before, much less landed, was nothing short of fantastic. Even watching the couples' ice dancing (again, not one of my faves), and to see the young Canadians win all-around gold- their pure joy, the crowd's hysteria, was a proud moment not only for Canada, but we were cheering them, as well. Although I had hoped for a USA win in men's hockey, esp. on the 30-year anniversary of the "Miracle on Ice", I'm proud for Canada to have won on home ice, in the sport they invented. Even the closing ceremonies were moving and thrilling. Greatest Olympics I've ever watched.

Ah, I love the Winter Olympics. There's something about them that touch me deeply- the thrills, the chills, the splendor, the unity, the beauty. Maybe they remind me of an adventure we were created for, a unity and beauty that awaits us, and a triumph & celebration we will share one day ourselves, with our Creator, Savior, and Lover, our Lord.

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, nor has it even entered the mind of man, what God has prepared for those who love Him..." 1 Corinthians 2:9

I'm in the middle of a book that is forcing me to think in some new ways. The book, "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan, addresses the amazing, unfathomable, furious love of our eternal God, and what our real response should be- total and complete surrender and abandon to Him. The first three chapters describe the wonder and majesty of God as found in His Word the Bible, and the infinitely complex, breath-taking universe He has made to display His glory. Amazing chapters. I found myself stopping often to search the Scriptures Chan would reference, and just let them sink in.

The chapters I'm in right now, 4 & 5, address the all-too-often inadequate response we humans make to this indescribable God. Using the parable Jesus told of the sower, the seed, and the soils, Chan makes a case for the hard truth that much of the American Church is the "thorny soil"-the Gospel is sown among us, but for far too many, it gets choked out by life's worries and the pursuit of prosperity and pleasure. Chan writes, "A relationship with God simply cannot grow when money, sins, activities, favorite sports teams, addictions, or commitments are piled on top." Then using the Revelation 3 description of lukewarm, half-hearted, nominally-committed people, Chan systematically contrasts it with passages that describe Jesus' call to whole-hearted followship. Chan's assertion- a lukewarm Christian is an oxymoron. Jesus calls us to "deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me." All or nothing. Chan states, "The thought of a person calling himself a Christian without being a devoted follower of Christ is absurd." This is found throughout the Bible, everywhere you look.

He's not saying that if you go through periods of stagnation or struggle you are not a Christian, as we all fall and fail in our attempts to follow Christ. But he is saying that if a person claims to have "prayed a prayer" inviting Christ in their life at some point, yet Jesus only gets fitted in when & where its convenient, getting the "leftovers", then its likely that person never really gave their life to Christ. Chan asserts, "Following Christ isn't something that can be done half-heartedly or on the side. It is not a label we can display when it is useful. It must be central to everything we do and are." All or nothing.

Yet how many of us live like this? How many of us are willing to say to God that He can have whatever He wants from us? That whole-hearted abandon to Him is more important than any other person or thing in this life? That nothing in this life really matters, unless it is about loving God and demonstrating His love to a world that desperately needs Him? After reading to them Jesus' final parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:31-46, I told the kids in both hours of RockiTown Sunday that, "How much I love other people is good evidence of how much I really love God."

Love- from God, for God, for others. Nothing else really matters.