When you think of endurance athletes the category of “grandfather” does not rise to the top on a list of potential competitors. And yet this is the lore of Gustaf Håkansson. In 1951 Swedish organizers formed a new 1,000-mile endurance race for cyclists called Sverigeloppet. They rejected most of the applicants desiring to have only…
With the arrival and departure of another Memorial Day Weekend, and the mark of one more year of time to be added to now seven decades since the D-Day landing of allied troops on the shore of France on June 6th, 1944, I’ve been thinking about the idea of dying for a cause. In my…
Last week I wrote on the topic of how God’s promises to the nation of Israel saturate their deepest devotions to the Lord. Israel’s devotion to Yahweh’s covenant faithfulness with them is even seen in what is described as their “National Anthem” (Deuteronomy 32). This week, I want to take us through an Old Testament…
The phrase “In it to Win it” is often used to describe the mindset of those competing in athletic events, but is also used regarding “Winning at Life”. Everyone wants to be a winner, right? Wining means that you are better than those competing against you, and you get want you want, your desires are…
As I sit at my desk this morning preparing to write this blog, I am faced with what seems like a million and one distractions. Some are external—people knocking on the door, tech problems in GCS chapel. Others are completely internal—I wonder what’s happening in the news? Do I have any emails in the inbox?…
It’s hard, sometimes, to figure out what God’s doing in the midst of tragedy, or difficulty, or despair. If the year 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that Job’s friend was right on when he said that “man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7). There are things that happen in…
As a former official, athletic director, and coach, I have come to know a lot about “out of bound lines”. Boundary lines in a sport are necessary not to only play the game but manage it as well. Even though some sports use the “out of bounds” lines differently to manage the sport, they all…
Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,Sun, moon, and stars in the courses above,Join with all nature in manifest witness,To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.–Thomas O. Chisholm Summer evenings are a special time for my wife and I. After the boys are in bed and the baby is soundly (maybe) sleeping, we like to…
In the early years of our marriage, I wanted to take my wife to visit my Aunt Nell and Uncle Homer who lived in Twiggs County Georgia; to the farm. The farm is where I had spent many summers as a young boy and well into my teen years. I had many great memories of…
