The Games Are Upon Us At Last!

It's almost here.  I can remember back in 2002 when I visited Beijing for the first time.  I was a rising senior in high school.  They had just found out one year earlier (2001) they were getting the games in 2008, and the city was already excited.  I bought a T-Shirt that year that had the original olympic logo they'd designed for the games, seen above.  6 years and two graduation ceremonies later, I'm 23 (today actually... yeah, so happy birthday me, for what that's worth. haha) and the games are less than 3 full days away.  The shirt no longer fits at all, the emblem is faded, and they've designed a new logo anyway.  The city has only grown, as I witnessed upon my second visit to Beijing in 2005, when I was a rising junior in college.  As I reflect upon the long and turbulent road that the olympic torch and games have taken to reach Beijing, I look at my own life on my 23rd birthday.  I too have had my share of growth and struggle in the last 6 years.  The transitions from high school to college to post-graduate life have been interesting to say the least.  Just as my original shirt bought back in 2002 no longer fits or is even relevant, I too have completely changed in more ways than one.  Spiritually I became a Christian over that period of time between 2002 and now, and the ways in which my life has grown, transformed, and been changed are too numerous to count.  And as the world watches the games unfold over the course of the next 3 weeks, I too watch with anticipation as the future awaits for myself and the rest of God's people.  I'm moving to LA in a little less than a month's time, and I eagerly look forward to what paths God has laid for me there.  I'll be  pursuing a career in the film business which I love and want to see transformed from the inside out.  Maybe not as dramatic as the Olympics, but surely to some extent, the "eyes of the world" will be upon me as I seek to live out my faith under the scrutiny of an unbelieving world.  I would ask for your prayers and continued support as I embark upon this exciting new chapter of my life.  Just like Beijing, I have made enemies and am not embraced by all.  I have my darker chapters and my secret sins, my moments of doubt and times when I appear stubborn.  We're all like this though: being continuously reshaped and re-moulded to the original designs of the creator.  Our sin nature has indeed corrupted us, but behold, Christ promises that he came to "make all things new", and this is especially true for the believer.  What a precious promise.  So for me, the next few weeks will be spent passionately enjoying the games I have been waiting for for the last 6 years, yet this is only symbolic of the rest of my life, which I desire and pray will be well spent living passionately for my God and my faith.  As crazy as it all sounds, I truly do believe that the Olympics are in many ways as close as we will get to seeing what heaven will be like, at least in appearance.  Think about it: as you watch the parade of nations, realize that this is but a small glimpse of what heaven might resemble.  Representatives from every tongue, tribe, and nation gathered together under the banner of unity.  For the next three weeks the world will unite under the banner of competitive sports.  I long for the day when a much larger crowd, the likes of which no one will be able to number, will gather under the banner of Christ the Lord, and we'll live in the presence of his light and majesty for all of eternity.  What a glorious thing to look forward too.  May the Lord bless you and may the next few weeks of your life be filled with excitement and joy as you reflect on these truths and promises.  I know I will, especially as I watch the games in Beijing unfold on the world's stage.  Let the games begin, and let the nations be glad whose god is the Lord!