Allow me to borrow a story from the comedian Ken Davis that describes a little about me and gives a good background to the October issue, which focuses on sport and some other issues. I know that God has a great sense of humour because he gave me a fiercely competitive nature together with the hand-eye coordination of a turtle. No laughing, this is serious! Ever since I can remember balls terrified me because they came flying at me out of nowhere; when I tried (even today) to kick a ball that is stationary on the ground, my foot somehow manages to slice more air than leather; I try my best to play cricket, rugby, tennis, badminton and golf with my son, but I can see the puzzled expression on his face each time his dad (his hero) misses the swing or kick. This natural ineptitude has often made me wonder about the abilities of great sportsmen. (I suppose to be PC I should say sports persons). How much can be learnt after raw talent runs out? Is there a programme that can help a person such as myself become better (or even good) at some type of sport? I guess the real question for me is how much of a performance can we alter; how is it possible for us to still break sporting records - I mean, the 100m sprint can surely not be run any faster, or can it?
Apart from technique, performance enhancers and better equipment, the sporting arena and man's fascination with it is a topic all on its own. Why do most societies consider men who are not involved with physical sport as a 'lesser breed'? Why is it that companies will spend billions of rands on advertising for sport and at sporting events and deny the same treatment for the arts or even spiritual events? Since we have been created as worshippers I find the idolizing of sport and personalities a concern; if we will not deem to worship the Creator then we will find something else to make the centre of our attention. What makes the dividing line even more difficult to define is society's stamp of approval on the idolization process. I know that this type of idolization is not only limited to the sporting arena and that actors, politicians and religious leaders have the same power to attract attention to themselves; however, we may find some interesting answers when we decide to research these and other related phenomena.
I referred to our Creator and the way in which we were formed - as the homo sapiens species. What does this really mean? The often-quoted passage in Genesis gives us the blueprint and outline of our unique composition and purpose: we are created just like God and we are given the choice to be like Him. Many times, we are under the impression that being created in the "image of God make us automatically, fully-God proactive - but this is not so. Image simply means we have the characteristics of God in-built. So, when we see that God is love, then we also know what we are capable of. When we see, that God is faithful, merciful and kind, then we know exactly how we too can conduct ourselves. However, this is where the gift of "likeness enters the equation: we must choose to live like God. We can't change who we are, but we can change the way we live. Now when we live like God we are true to His request, "Be holy because I Am holy. This is the ultimate expression of true worship.
Now when we worship God, truly and spiritually, can we still idolize anything else? Sport? People? Church? Well, today we may see as a child, tomorrow like a young adult, but ultimately as wise people; no matter where we find ourselves in this journey of discovery we need to determine the destination, and along the way make sure our GPS is still tuned in to the final coordinates. "And where do we find the coordinates, you may ask; well, isn't that built into the fibres of our being according to the exact instructions on our blueprint?
So, fellow readers and thinkers, blog me your thoughts and musings and let us challenge one another even as we are ourselves challenged. If we are willing to engage in the debate we will hopefully discover in the process that we are indeed fearfully and wonderfully made.
