READING REPORT
SMGT 402
Reading Report Instructions
You will submit a 1-page Reading Report (as an attached document) on the assigned readings from each module/week, answering the questions from the workbook.
Each Reading Report must include the following:
A summary of the major themes and principles in the chapter and workbook.
A critique of the helpfulness of the chapter in your understanding of sport chaplaincy.
How the chapter encouraged you to continue or not continue in this field.
Each assignment is due by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Monday of the assigned module/week, except for Reading Report 8, which is due by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Friday of Module/Week 8. 10 Reformation pastoral care
in the Olympic Village
Ashley Null
Introduction
When a chaplain has long-standing relationships with participants, to be work-
ing in the Athletes Village during the Olympic Games is like attending ten
funerals and one wedding every day. Many more sportspersons bury their
dreams during the course of those 17 days than achieve them. Of course, chap-
lains have the unique opportunity to share the indescribable joy of a participant
who has just fulfilled a life-long quest to attain the ultimate sporting achieve-
ment. However, chaplains also have the even greater privilege of standing-by
and supporting the many more athletes who have just seen their lifes dream
shattered before their eyes and lying now in jumbled, jagged pieces at their feet.
For in sport, every persons thrill of victory comes at the cost of many, many
other peoples agony of defeat. That is the nature of competition.
It was the best of times; it was the worst of times
Nothing made this harsh reality clearer to me than US Swimmings Olympic
trials for Sydney 2000 in the 200m mens freestyle. The meet was in Indianapo-
lis, and I had flown in to help with the daily Swimmers Chapel, a programme
led by Josh Davis, a three-time Olympic gold medallist at Atlanta the most of
any male athlete at those games. Despite such success, however, Josh had yet to
achieve his life-long goal of breaking the American record in the mens 200m
freestyle set by his childhood hero, Matt Biondi. His goal at these trials was to
win a second trip to the Olympics with a time that established a new record in
his signature event.
Davis roommate in Indianapolis was Ugur Taner. Their stories could not
have been more different. At 13, Davis was told by his coach to find another
sport because he lacked promise. By 14, Taner had become the fastest Ameri-
can swimmer for his age ever. In 1992 Davis watched the Barcelona Games
on television. Taner competed in them for Turkey as a dual citizen. But in
1996 the roles were reversed. Taner tried and just missed making the US team
with Josh. This time it was Taner who was forced to follow the fortunes of his
friends on television, while Davis went on to Olympic glory. Four years later,
Pastoral care in Olympic Village 121
at 26, the 2000 trials were Taners last chance to fulfil all those expectations that
came from his incredible success as a high school student the expectations of
his coaches, of his family and of himself. As Taner (2008: 69) described it, less
than 1 percent of all swimmers at the Trials actually make the team, so you can
imagine the level of stress I felt preparing for competition.
As was our usual routine at a major event, I went to Joshs hotel room at 4:00
pm to pray with him before the finals in the 200m freestyle that evening. Six
months earlier, Ugur had become a Christian. As a Turkish American with a
decidedly non-Christian family background, his decision to follow Christ had
naturally been a great surprise to everyone. But Josh was overjoyed to have a
fellow born-again believer on the US National Team, even if they were direct
competitors in the 200m freestyle. So Ugur was invited to join our prayer ses-
sion. I prayed with each swimmer individually, and then we all prayed together.
We asked that God would enable both Josh and Ugur to fulfil their calling and
have the peace, power and sense of Gods presence to perform at their very best.
The race was very fast and heart-breakingly close. In less than two minutes
it was all over. Josh had at long-last broken the American record. But Ugur had
missed the Olympic team once again: this time by 1/100th of a second. Both
felt a degree of emotional intensity neither had ever known before. For Josh it
was joy and the hope of better things to come. For Ugur it was the bitter pain
of the things deeply hoped for that could now never be. We three had dinner
together afterwards a simultaneous toasting of Joshs new record and a eulogy
for Ugurs long-held athletic dream. I can only describe the meal as surreal. Josh
tried desperately to be sensitive to Ugur; Ugur tried desperately to be happy
for Josh; I tried desperately to help both sense Gods presence with them at this
equally momentous, but vastly different moment in their lives. Sitting at that
table, I was confronted with hope and heartache, cheek-by-jowl, the epitome
of life as an Olympic chaplain.
What should a chaplain say in such circumstances? How can anyone explain
such a turn-of-events? Was 2/100ths of a second too much to ask from God
Almighty? Did the Heavenly Watchman who promises neither to slumber nor
sleep blink for a mere instant? Or did God just love Josh more? Was Ugur guilty
of some secret moral failure, some deep hidden sin that made God think he did
not deserve to make the team? Was Josh just more humble and Ugur too proud?
Such questions may sound foolish, but not to a grieving sportsperson. When
the sting of defeat is still white hot, the human heart cries out for answers.
Even years later, when a person least expects it, something can trigger that old
memory. Then, with breathtaking speed the pain rushes back in a moment, and
the hunger for an explanation roars back to life all over again. As a common
locker-room wall poster warns: defeat is worse than death because you have to
live with defeat (Hoffman, 2010: 152).
In the face of failure, it is all too easy for Christian athletes to see God as their
ultimate coach. Those who feel they have made good spiritual choices often
expect to be included on Gods winning team and be blessed with athletic
success. Those who have made bad choices can easily fear they will be left off
122 Ashley Null
the roster and cut out of any reward, at least until they can prove themselves to
be better spiritually again. When Christian athletes lose, they cannot help but
wonder what failure of regular Christian duty, what recent bad moral choice,
or even what on-going inner unworthiness made God decide they were not
good enough to have their best efforts blessed with success this time. As a result,
in the very moment these athletes need help from their relationship with God
the most, their faith can easily become just another reason to feel ashamed for
being a loser. In the final analysis, the only thing worse at that moment for a
competitor than feeling that they let their country, their coach, their teammates,
their family, their friends and themselves down is thinking the reason for all this
pain is that they have let God down, too.
Even winning is not without its emotional hazards. After years spent dream-
ing of how wonderful an Olympic victory is going to be, the thrill, as incredible
as it is, fades so very quickly. And the next morning comes with its own fresh
set of problems. Success in sport does not insulate winners from all the stresses
and strains of normal life, including relationship problems. Indeed, with the
elite status of being a world champion comes a whole new set of special prob-
lems: Who are my real friends? Does that person care about me, or just want to
brag about knowing an Olympic gold medallist? How come everybody always
expects something from me? How do I squeeze in all these appearances for my
new sponsors while still training to stay on top? Isnt there any time any more
just for me? What if I lose now? How long can I ride this wave? What happens
to me when my body finally gives out? Why am I still not satisfied? If winning
a gold medal didnt satisfy me, what will?
An Olympic chaplain must understand the heart of all those who long to
become champions, even when they achieve their goals as well as when they
do not. In the face of all of the intense aspirations and anxieties that elite sports
people encounter, chaplains must be convincing witnesses to the truth of Gods
enduring love and the power of his promises to deliver a peace and purpose
that passes all human understanding. Indeed, this is the reason why chaplains
are given access to the Olympic Village: to be at the side of those competitors
who wish to turn to God in preparation for their events and then to help them
make spiritual sense of the results afterwards.
Yet, Shirl Hoffman has suggested that special chaplains for elite sportspersons
is fundamentally inappropriate:
Chaplain ministries in hospitals, retirement centers, the military and even
on college campuses are easily understood, but the rush to minister to the
needs of an outrageously paid and catered-to group of elite entertainers
who choose to participate in an enterprise that exacts heavy tolls on life,
limb, and Christian witness is not. Usual justifications point to the peculiar
pressures that face the athletic star: vulnerabilities brought on by instant
riches, the demands of the press, the threat of injury, the dangers posed by
sycophants, and the lure of inviting women. But unlike patients in hospi-
tals and nursing homes who struggle with difficult circumstances beyond
Pastoral care in Olympic Village 123
their control, athletes struggle with pressures, anxieties, injuries, and emo-
tional ups and downs brought on by circumstances of their own choosing.
These are part of the bargain struck when they sign a contract or accept a
scholarship.
(Hoffman, 2010: 235)
Of course, Hoffmans argument that people should be expected to lie alone in
an uncomfortable bed of their own choosing equally applies to Americas all-
volunteer military, for whom he, as a US citizen, readily concedes the appropri-
ateness of a chaplaincy ministry. The only difference between the two groups
would seem to be Hoffmans implicit respect for soldiers who wage war and his
evident disdain for the enterprise of elite sports and especially for those who
engage in them. Yet a more impartial commentator would surely agree that
the Olympic authorities would, in fact, be remiss in their duty of care for their
participants should they fail to provide chaplains to offer professional support
for competitors of faith. Despite Hoffmans objection, such a task is as crucial
for these participants as it is complicated. What then should be a chaplains
approach to ministry to the sporting elite?
The Gospel as the antidote to the shame
culture of elite sports
The greatest pastoral need for any overachiever is to understand that the gospel
is the antidote to performance-based identity. Olympians are no exception. So
many factors in competitive sports encourage athletes to base their self-worth
on what they are able to prove they can do. More often than not, they are
trained to feel good about themselves only when they are winning. As one ath-
lete told a researcher, if you lose, youre nothing (Hoffman, 2010: 210). When
they do lose, they are expected to internalize a deep personal dissatisfaction
with themselves. For only if their emotional experience of losing is sufficiently
horrendous will they find the willpower to make every sacrifice necessary to
claw their way back to self-respect by winning the next time. Current research
only confirms how common amongst perfectionist sportspersons is the fear of
failure with its attendant sense of worthlessness and shame (Sagar and Stoeber,
2009; Sagar, Boardely and Kavussanu, 2011).
According to Andre Agassis (2009) lyrical and deeply illuminating autobi-
ography Open, by the age of 7 he associated winning tennis tournaments with
emotional safety: safety from his fathers rage at his not being good enough,
safety from his own sense of shame at failing to prove he was good enough,
safety from his consequent deep self-loathing a self-imposed emotional abuse
which the mature Agassi labelled torture. At age 10, a well-meaning coach told
Agassi how to harness his shame for success:
Youre hurting right now, hurting like heck, but that just means you care.
Means you want to win. You can use that. Remember this day. Try to use
124 Ashley Null
this day as motivation. If you dont want to feel this hurt again, good, do
everything you can to avoid it. Are you ready to do everything? I nod.
(Agassi, 2009: 55)
At 22, Agassi discovered that even achieving a Grand Slam was not enough to
heal the wounds from all the self-torture which he had inflicted upon himself
to gain such rewards. After his victory at Wimbledon, he realized that winning
changes nothing . . . . A win doesnt feel as good as a loss feels bad, and the
good feeling doesnt last as long as the bad. Not even close (Agassi, 2009: 167).
Because so many elite sportspersons instinctively shame themselves as the price
of, and power for, excellence, most champions compete not to win, since the
thrill of victory is so short-lived, but rather compete not to lose, so as to avoid
the bitter sting of their own deeply cutting emotional self-flagellation.
Therefore, the first task of any chaplain to elite athletes is to help them learn
to separate their personal identity from their athletic performance. For only
love has the power to make human beings feel truly significant, not achieve-
ment. Only knowing that they are loved, regardless of their current perfor-
mance, has the power to make Olympians feel emotionally whole.
Failure to make the crucial distinction between significance and achieve-
ment will forever hold the self-esteem of athletes hostage to all the ups and
downs of competitive life. Like all human beings, elite athletes need to know
that they are valued not for what they have or have done or what they may
still do, but for who they are, with both their good points and their bad. Only
really being loved, continuously, as they are, deep down inside, with all their
fears and failures, with all their deeds and dreams, only that kind of love will
give them a sense of worth and value that will not go away, even when their
athletic prowess does.
Of course, the only source for an assured, steadfast, unconditional love is God
himself. Christian sportspeople, therefore, have a wonderfully clear opportunity
for a different source of identity. According to the Bible, their worth and value
is to be found solely in the love God proved he has for them by dying for them
on the cross. Such was the clear message of the Protestant Reformations recov-
ery of the Pauline doctrine of solifidianism (Null, forthcoming). While we were
yet enemies, Christ died to reconcile us to God (Rom. 5:810), and, through
the gift of personal faith (Rom. 3:234), sinners are reckoned righteous, despite
their evident shortcomings (Rom. 4:5). There is now no condemnation for
those in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1). They are adopted as Gods own children for-
ever (Rom. 8:1517). Nothing in all creation can ever separate believers from
the love of God as revealed in Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:319).
In the Reformation tradition, Christians do not merit either their justifica-
tion or their sanctification, neither wholly by their own efforts nor in part by
their cooperation with Gods grace. Both right-standing with God and loving
right afterwards like God are the work of God himself within the hearts of
his children. Individuals must certainly make choices in the Christian life, but
good choices are always and only the fruit of Gods promise to be at work in
Pastoral care in Olympic Village 125
believers, drawing them ever closer into fellowship with himself so that they
may become more like him. Once again, Paul summed up this aspect of Ref-
ormation spirituality the best:
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed not only in my
presence, but now much more in my absence continue to work out your
salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will
and to act according to his good purpose.
(Phil. 2:1213)
Naturally, obedience to the ways of God is an essential part of being a member
of His family. However, in the end even obedience itself is a gift that comes to
Christians because of Gods faithfulness to bring them into full relationship with
him. After all, if nothing will separate believers from the love of God in Christ
Jesus, then the love of God must seek to drive out, little by little, although never
fully in this life, the self-centeredness of their hearts which naturally shies away
from divine intimacy. Only the power of divine love can allure human beings to
learn to love serving God and others more than sin and selfishness.
Here is the true nature of Gods unconditional love for his children. Implicit
within the gift of love is a calling of another into relationship. And any rela-
tionship requires both individuals to give up some measure of autonomy so as
to think of the others needs and desires, at least a little. For sinners to accept
the gift of Gods love is to admit into their hearts a power from outside them-
selves that then tugs at their very self-centeredness, seeking to draw them out
of themselves into relationship with him. Consequently, divine perfect love
must seek to stir up in believers an equally full, unreserved selfless self-giving
of all of themselves to their God. Therein lies the gospels power as the greatest
antidote to performance-based identity. For God himself has promised to keep
loving sinners until his love makes them as lovely as he himself is. In the age to
come they will be eternal splendours, shining brighter than the Milky Way, for
they will be radiated by, and radiating to, the Trinity as well as one another the
transforming unconditional love of God, forever.
Why is the Reformations teaching about obedience as a gift such an impor-
tant principle for chaplains to communicate to elite athletes? Only a proper
understanding of sanctification by grace will save Christian athletes from seeing
God as the ultimate bad dad sports coach who cuts them from the team in the
face of spiritual failure. Only knowing that personal holiness is Gods gift, not
another achievement they have to earn, will save elite sportspersons from fear-
ing that Gods love is as contingent on their performance as every affirmation in
the Olympic world. Only knowing the true nature of grace will save Christian
athletes from spiritual shame at the very moment they need to turn to God for
help in fighting off sporting shame for failing to reach their competitive goals.
Only knowing the alluring power of Gods unconditional love will save elite
sportspersons from turning to the treadmill of self-loathing, where they look to
self-hatred as the best motivation for fighting sin harder so that they can win
126 Ashley Null
back divine approval to ensure that God will bless them with victory the next
time. Only knowing the gospel will foster emotional wholeness in Christian
athletes facing the immense pressures of Olympic competition (Null, 2008; for
Roman Catholic perspectives, see Mazza, 2008; Novak, 1976).
Three Reformation pastoral questions
Once elite sportspersons have come to identify the love of God revealed in
Jesus Christ as their enduring source of worth and value, they need learn how
to apply this truth practically to their competitive life especially during such
an emotionally intense event as the Olympic Games. Once again, the insights
of the Reformation prove helpful. According to the English Reformer Thomas
Cranmer, grace produces gratitude; gratitude engenders love; love births repent-
ance; repentance leads to good works: good works bring about a better society
(Null, 2004). Christian athletes must first focus on what God has done for them
through sport before they can seek to do something for God through sport.
Three questions are particularly useful in enabling Christian athletes to experi-
ence the Reformations integration of their faith and their sport: (1) How has
Gods gift of sport enabled you to experience joy? (2) How has Gods gift of
sport drawn you closer to Him? (3) How has Gods gift of sport drawn you
closer to others in His service?
How has Gods gift of sport enabled you to experience joy?
Most evangelical sports theology begins with Jesus parable of the talents (Matt.
25:1430). Christian athletes are told that they have a responsibility to be good
stewards of the gifts which God has given them: consequently, they need to
honour God through developing their athletic talent (e.g. Athletes in Action,
1994: 1315). While such an appeal to duty and obligation fits perfectly with
the sporting worlds expectation of performance-based affirmation, a Reforma-
tion understanding of Christian vocation does not begin with what believers
must do for God but with what God has already done for them and not merely
in justification but in sanctification as well. As the Apostle Paul taught, even the
good works Christians do for God are actually Gods gifts to them which he has
carefully prepared in advance to give to them at the kairos moment (Eph. 2:10).
Of course, God ultimately intends his gifts to be used to build up the body
(Eph. 4:12) and to promote unity with himself (Eph. 4:13). However, the first
reason He gives good gifts to human beings is the evangelism of joy. As a wit-
ness to his providential care for humankind, God gives the people of the earth
sun and rain, plenty of food to eat and the opportunity to turn their hand to
a variety of activities in order that they may have joy (Deut. 16:16; Matt. 5:45;
Acts 14:17). The Psalmist recognized sport as one of these joy-giving activities:
In the heavens [God] has pitched a tent for the sun which is like a bridegroom
coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course
(19:45). By comparing the feeling champions experience when performing
Pastoral care in Olympic Village 127
their sport to a honeymoon intense physical satisfaction and emotional con-
tentment all at the same time the Bible could not offer much higher praise
for the joy of sport. As a God-given gift, every race, every game, every perfor-
mance is an opportunity to experience afresh the thrill that comes from doing
something God designed the heart of every sportsperson to love. In the film
Chariots of Fire, Eric Liddell aptly expressed this Reformation approach to sport:
I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast, and when
I run I feel his pleasure.
The Bible teaches that such joy is essential for enduring the hardships of life.
Paul noted that because of their former abundance of joy, the Galatians would
have gladly plucked out their own eyes, if it would have relieved Paul of the
suffering his own caused him (Gal. 4:15). Hebrews says that Jesus ignored the
shame and endured the cross because of the joy set before him (Heb. 12:2).
Little wonder, then, that Nehemiah told the people of Jerusalem that the joy of
the Lord is your strength (Neh. 8:10).
Some Christian coaches today seek to harness joy, in particular the joy of
relationships forged under fire, as a healthy alternative for motivating their ath-
letes through the stress and strain of competition. Coach Biff Poggi of the
Gilman, Maryland, High School football team, begins each new season with
this pep talk:
Were gonna go through this whole thing as a team. We are the Gilman
football community. A community. This is the only place probably in your
whole life where youre gonna be together and work together with a group
as diverse as this racially, socially, economically, you name it. Its a beau-
tiful thing to be together like this. Youll never find anything else like it
in the world simply wont happen. So enjoy it. Make the most of this.
Its yours . . . . The relationships you make here . . . you will always have
them . . . for the rest of your life, the rest of your life. Cherish this, boys,
cherish this.
(cited in Marx, 2003: 44; cf. Ehrmann, 2011; Drape, 2009: 456)
Coach Poggi is a wise man. Despite the ups and downs of life in competitive
sports, there is so much to cherish as part of that experience, especially the rela-
tionships formed along the way.
Now what is true for a high-school football season is so much more true of
the privilege to be competing in the Olympic Games. As a result, the first task
of a chaplain in the Olympic Village is to help participants savour the sheer joy
of being an Olympian. One of the best ways to do so is to ask participants to
reflect on all the blessings they have received from God through sport over the
years counting them one by one, as the old hymn says: all the people who
have invested in them; all the friends they have made; all the places they have
seen; all the maturity in Christ they have gained; all the love they have expe-
rienced. Nothing pushes back Olympic anxieties like realizing that nothing
which will happen during the Games can ever take away the joys of the athletic
128 Ashley Null
journey that brought them there. Then, of course, there are all the wonderful
experiences of Village life to relish while they last. For example, Josh Davis has
famously compared worship in the Olympic religious services centre to a fore-
taste of heaven; people from all lands and languages gathered together, acknowl-
edging the goodness of God and his lordship over all, regardless of the results of
their competition. Counting it all joy is the best way for participants to prepare
for their competition and to take in stride the results when they come.
How has Gods gift of sport drawn you closer to him?
The second reason God gives gifts to people is to draw them into ever deeper
personal fellowship with him (Eph. 4:13). Martin Luther understood this
principle and argued that a persons vocation was a divinely devised school of
discipleship (see Wingren, 1957: 2838). Consequently, God has equipped all
vocations with trouble and toil to confront Christians with their need to turn
to Him in prayer to be changed according to his Word. Here is the practical
arena where God acts on his promise to turn His children inside out, enabling
them to learn to die daily to ego and reorienting them toward loving service to
Him as well as others. By leaning on the promises of God and asking His Spirit
to write them on their hearts daily, Christian athletes have a never-ending
stream of opportunities to grow in living out the truths of their faith:
that their identity is based on the cross, not on todays success or failure;
that their power to give their all during competition comes not from their
own willpower, but from Christ who is at work in them to strengthen
and draw their wills to his, for discipline and endurance are the fruit of
the Spirit (Gal. 5:22);
that their right-standing with God stays constant because of Gods grace,
regardless of all chances and changes of the world of sport, even regardless
of all the vagaries of their own faithfulness to him, in sorrow and in joy;
that living by faith means to trust that the value of all the struggle, sweat and
self-investment to become an Olympian is not ultimately determined by
their results during the games but by Gods faithfulness to use everything
for his eternal purposes;
that if their day of competition turns out to be Good Friday, just because
they are Christians does not mean that the nails will not hurt; however,
God is a good steward of pain. The stinging bitterness of defeat will not
have the last word. Easter will come. It may take three days, three years or
even three decades, but Easter will come. God is faithful to work all things
together for good (Rom. 8:28).
For so many Christian competitors in the Olympic Village, the games become
the school of discipleship where they face the crucifixion of their deepest held
aspirations as part of a divine plan to enable them to experience first-hand an
Pastoral care in Olympic Village 129
even deeper joy of seeing Gods love work all things together for good at the
kairos moment.
How has Gods gift of sport drawn you closer to
others in his service?
If Luther emphasized vocation as a divine means to deepen individual faith,
Calvin emphasized vocation as the divine call to take that deepened faith and
work to restore human beings and their life together to Gods intention in
creation (Niebuhr, 1951). Once sportspeople have reflected on the joy God
has given them through sport and the intimacy they have gained with Jesus as
a result, they are equipped to make a difference for Christ. For now they have
more joy and more of Jesus to share.
The Olympic Games offer so many opportunities to restore both sport and
the people of sport to Gods purposes. By how they participate in the games
(Weir and Daniels, 2004), Christian athletes can witness to sport as something
other than overly commercialized entertainment whose stars believe that you
aint trying if you aint cheating (Hoffman, 2010: 210). They can compete drug-
free and in the spirit of the rules, not just by the letter, thus showing a credible
alternative to the win-at-all-cost mentality that so pervades the Olympics. They
can reject treating their opponent as an adversary who threatens their identity,
but rather value them as a co-worker whose achievement and active resistance
will call forth in the Christian a higher standard of sporting excellence which
could not be achieved alone (Weir and Daniels, 2004). They can give their all
during competition, expecting to sense Jesus presence within them, since when
they are in motion they are in harmony with the purpose for which Christ
created them. When fear of failure whispers in their ear that they are going to
lose, they can refuse to pull back, even though giving less than their best would
make defeat easier to bear. For, ironically, it is easier psychologically to feel
guilty for not having tried hard enough, than to feel powerless to have changed
the situation. Consequently, Christian athletes can give everything they have to
the very last moment of their competition, despite knowing that to do so will
only intensify their emotional pain should they, in the end, fail. In victory, they
can exhibit humility and gratitude, realizing that most other Christian athletes
have worked just as hard and prayed as much, but God had set aside other gifts
than Olympic success for them. In defeat, they can refuse to torture themselves
with self-loathing or shame those on their team whose failures may have con-
tributed to their own disappointment. They can rejoice for those who win and
weep with those who have not, regardless of their own situation. They can, in
short, bring the joy and hope of Jesus to all they meet which, of course, is the
very best form of evangelism.
When God allows Olympians to see the difference their life and witness to
Jesus have made in other peoples lives whether over a conversation in the
locker room after a game in the Olympic stadium, over a cappuccino in the
Village McCafe or in front of a bank of cameras before a televised audience of
130 Ashley Null
billions that joy, that real joy, abides long after the Closing Ceremonies are
over, even long after their physical prowess is gone. In the light of that joy, all
the heart-ache along the way will seem as mere mosquito bites, real but only
momentary pains of no lasting significance (2 Cor. 4:17).
Conclusion: Gods redeeming love
In the Christian life, God takes all of his children on journeys they do not wish
to go. He makes them travel by roads they do not wish to use. All so that he can
bring them to places they never wish to leave. With Jesus, pain, no matter how
great even when of Olympic proportions never has the last word. Nothing
has made this hopeful reality clearer to me as an Olympic chaplain than watch-
ing Gods pastoral care of Josh Davis and Ugur Taner since the 2000 Trials.
In 2004 Davis himself tasted the bitter disappointment of not qualifying
for another Olympics. He would eventually retire to concentrate on his great
love motivating people
