Life on Planet Earth on Athletes

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Investing in their Bodies

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LeBron James will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the greatest players in basketball history. His stats are consistently jaw-dropping, despite competing in a sport that is usually dominated by you...

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Grace and the Spiritual Disciplines

Author

Dallas Willard

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What is the relationship between spiritual diciplines and grace? Does participation in the spiritual disciplines mean that we are not resting in God’s grace? Dallas Willard shares the analogy of a bas...

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Author

Thomas Merton

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Souls are like athletes that need opponents worthy of them, if they are to be tried and extended and pushed to the full use of their powers.

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The Corinthian Judgment Seat

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Discover Revelation

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Scripture

2 Corinthians 5:10

The city of Corinth was famous for the Isthmian Games, a festival of athletic contests and events similar to the Olympic games. At the end of each contest or event, the athletes would appear before a ...

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He is Coming: A Triumphal Entry

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

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Scripture

Zechariah 9:9, Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:8-11, Luke 19:36-44, John 12:16-19

Just under 80 years ago, a crowd gathered on a humid August day to commence what was to be an unparalleled event for its time. Hundreds of thousands of spectators, police officers, and soldiers gather...

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Listening to Heartbeats

Author

Matthew Sleeth

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In the forward to the excellent book, Subversive Sabbath , physician and author of 24/6, Matthew Sleeth describes the process of listening to hearts as part of his medical practice. While speaking ...

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Faster, Higher, Stronger

Author

Richella J. Parham

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All kinds of competition are comparisons of the abilities or performance of one person or team to that of another. From elementary school spelling bees to professional sports, contestants compare thei...

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ONE MORE LAP!

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

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Scripture

2 Timothy 4:7-8, Hebrews 12:1-3, Philippians 3:13-14, Romans 5:3-5, Philippians 1:6

I recently heard a story about a race in which one runner had a significant lead over the rest of the field. As the man rounded the final turn, the crowd roared as he inched closer and closer to the f...

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Changing Direction

Author

Fred Rogers

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Scripture

Philippians 2:3-4, Galatians 6:2, Matthew 20:26-28, 1 John 3:18, 1 Corinthians 12:25-26

There was a story going around about the Special Olympics. For the hundred-yard dash, there were nine contestants, all of them so-called physically or mentally disabled. All nine of them assembled at ...

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Losing the Other Eye

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

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Scripture

James 1:2-4, 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, Nehemiah 4:14

Professional football players often get heated on the field, sometimes letting their emotions get the best of them when penalized by an official. Art Holst, a longtime NFL referee, recalls a Sunday ga...

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A Father’s Love brings Hope and Endurance

Author

Wayne Rice

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Scripture

Matthew 28:20

The Barcelona Olympics of 1992 provided one of track and field’s most incredible moments. Britain’s Derek Redmond had dreamed all his life of winning a gold medal in the 400-meter race, and his dream...

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What I am Supposed to Do?

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

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The American Golfer George Archer had a relatively successful career on the PGA tour, winning thirteen PGA tournaments, including the 1969 Masters. As he drew closer to retiring from the sport, he was...

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Playing for His Father

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

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Scripture

Proverbs 22:23, Deuteronomy 6:6-9, Philippians 4:13, Hebrews 12:1-3, Psalm 19:93-94

A blind father, proud of his son who played Rugby at its namesake school, would listen intently to the roar of the crowd and the cheers for the winning team. Though he never saw his son in action, he ...

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Warming Up

Author

C. J. Mahaney

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I grew up playing sports, and basketball in particular has always been a favorite. Though I turned fifty-one last year, I often remind my younger friends that I “still have game.” I keep insisting tha...

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Exercise & Spirituality

Author

Ruth Haley Barton

Keywords

Health

Scripture

1 Timothy 4:7-8, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Interestingly enough, even secular research indicates that exercise and spirituality go hand in hand. “A biological mechanism is at work,” says William C. Bushell, a Massachusetts Institute of Technol...

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Camels Using P.E.D.’s

Author

Irwyn L. Ince Jr.

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Scripture

Psalm 8:, Proverbs 31:30, 1 Peter 3:3-4, 1 Samuel 16:7, Proverbs 31:30, 1 Samuel 16:7

Performance-enhancing drugs are a major problem in the sporting world. Cycling, baseball, weightlifting, football—athletes at the highest levels need something to put them over the top or keep them in...

liturgy

Adapted from Hebrews 12:1-2

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Scripture

Hebrews 12:1-2

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set b...

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Liddell’s Sabbath Exception

Author

Randy Alcorn

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Randy Alcorn relates meeting Margaret Holder, born to missionary parents in China and interned by the Japanese with Eric Liddell, the “Flying Scotsman,” whose story is featured in Chariots of Fire . ...

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Why Games are Fun

Author

Ian Bogost

Keywords

Scripture

Zechariah 8:5

The lesson that games can teach us is simple. Games aren’t appealing because they are fun, but because they are limited. Because they erect boundaries. Because we must accept their structures in order...

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The Scottish Discus Thrower

Author

John Eldredge

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Scripture

James 1:2-4, Romans 5:3-5, Job 23:10, 1 Corinthians 9:25-27, Hebrews 12:11

As a young boy, around the time my heart began to suspect that the world was a fearful place and I was on my own to find my way through it, I read the story of a Scottish discus thrower from the ninet...

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What am I Supposed to Do?

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

The US Golfer George Archer had a relatively successful career on the PGA tour, winning won thirteen tournaments, including the 1969 Masters. As he drew closer to retiring from the sport, he wasn’t ex...

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Always Make Sure You Are Aiming at the Right Target

Author

Vance Pitman

Keywords

If you were lucky enough to watch the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, you probably remember swimmer Michael Phelps bursting onto the international scene. Phelps won six medals in those ga...

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No Need to Hold Anything Back

Author

Jeff Volkmer

Keywords

In the sport of cycling, one of the most important things necessary to be successful in a race is the ability to manage the timing of when “to burn a match.” This is a phrase that all bike racers know...

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Running His Race

Author

Jon Tyson

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Scripture

Romans 12:3, 1 Corinthians 9:24-25, Isaiah 40:31, Philippians 3:13-14, Galatians 5:7, 2 Timothy 4:7, Hebrews 12:1-2

In his book The Burden is the Light, Jon Tyson shares how, as a child, he had excelled as a runner, winning a number of races and even breaking state records. But everything changed when another athle...

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Author

Seth Godin

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Quitting

Winners quit all the time. They just quit the right stuff at the right time.

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The Practice of Indirection

Author

James Bryan Smith

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 119:11, Philippians 4:9, Luke 6:48, 2 Timothy 2:15, Proverbs 6:6-8, Hebrews 12:11

Payton Manning practiced indirection. He was the winning quarterback of Super Bowl XLI. It was a rainy night, and the ball was slippery. Rex Grossman, the quarterback for the losing team, fumbled the ...

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Running The (Wrong) Race

Author

Heather Thompson Day

Keywords

We want everyone around us to believe we have it all together—and we don’t. We fear everyone else is living the lives they post and we are the only imposters. And so, the race is on. The race to perfe...

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The Story of Eric Liddell

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Eric Liddell, the “Flying Scotsman” was made famous by the 1981 movie Chariots of Fire . He was born to missionary parents in China in 1902 and educated in the United Kingdom. Though he made the Bri...

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A Reward Seat

Author

Source Unknown

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During the ancient Greek Olympics, the judge of the contest sat on an elevated seat. After the contest was over the competitors came before him to receive their rewards. This was not a judicial bench ...

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Reducing People to the Madness of a Single Moment

Author

Jonathan K. Dodson

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 16:18, Proverbs 11:2, James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5-6, Philippians 2:3-4, Luke 18:9-14, Matthew 23:1-12

In his thoughtful book, Our Good Crisis: Overcoming Moral Chaos with the Beatitudes , Jonathan K. Dodson points out our blind-spots with respect to pride: We rarely think of ourselves as proud. I...

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