Tim Wildmon

AFA president

October 1996 – Like millions of Americans I greatly enjoyed watching the Olympics this summer.  And as much as I enjoyed our basketball “dream team,” and the swimming, diving, track and field events, it was those 80-pound ladies on the gym floor and balance beam that left me awestruck.

These young athletes often seemed to do things that defied gravity. The balance beam is only four inches in width, yet these girls would do up to three consecutive flips without using their hands to balance.  Simply amazing.

However, with the exception of a few Olympic athletes, most are not in the national and international spotlight very often.  Certainly the gymnasts I mentioned are not well known names like David Robinson of the United States basketball team or Carl Lewis of the United States track and field team.  Yet they worked, toiled and sweated for years behind the scenes – in some gym out of the limelight – for that moment of decision and a chance to win the gold medal.

These world class athletes wanted to represent their country well and win the gold for their countrymen.  In the same way Christians should always be in training for the task God has called us to, whatever it may be.  When we have that moment of decision we don’t want to fail the Lord.

Very few of us are going to be the David Robinsons of the Christian faith.  Most of us are in life’s obscure gym working out where no one really sees us.  Hour after hour, day after day, week after week doing those things which – if we are faithful – in the end will bring us a gold medal.

And just as David Robinson bowed his head and received a gold medal, so too did that unknown gymnast from Romania. Both were rewarded by the Olympic judges.  Likewise will Christians be rewarded by our Lord Jesus Christ – the great judge – if we continue in faithfulness to serve and obey God. The importance the task holds in our own eyes or in the eyes of the world, is of little consequence.  Faithful service is the important thing.