Photo British Athletics

"I jump into a sand pit for a living"

Jonathan Edwards, World record triple-jumper

Give thanks

Life can be a challenge – day to day life and your sporting life. There are challenges, surprises, disappointments, personal failures, circumstances beyond your control. It is all part of being human. This passage gives us some help in dealing with what life throws at us.

The LORD is good.

Because we are Christians, we are not immune from life and its challenges. But the LORD is in control and he is good. Remember when the children in The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe* ask if Aslan is safe: “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

His love endures for ever

Not only is God good but he will always be good. Only God can make forever promises. Sport is transient, you are champion only until the next time. You hold the record only until someone breaks it. God’s love endures for ever.

Give thanks

This is not theoretical knowledge; it is practical and it has implications. We are to believe that God is good and that his love lasts forever. The natural response is to be thankful and to express those thanks. Go to training, competition or just life today remembering what this verse teaches us.

*C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

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