One of the most interesting parts of the Olympics for me is that occasionally I will accidentally start to watch a sport which I was not planning on viewing and know nothing about and discover it fascinating. This happened to me today when I put on the television after lunch and there was the men’s skateboarding, with only 45 seconds per competitor, it was so fast moving that I was hooked within minutes.
As I watched today gradually the scoring made more sense, I start to notice what constituted a good, or an amazing routine. Watching the scores with bated breath to establish if a run was going to be better than the last the best of three runs gave their final score. A sport about which I have virtually no knowledge, where the terminology used for the tricks such as an Ollie, 50-50 Grind, Boardslide, Fakie and the one I was rather taken with Smith Grind not that any of the names made sense to me!
I was delighted to see that Great Britain had a competitor in the men’s skateboarding but was surprised when he was 51 years old. This after the South African athlete who is 49, and much was made of his age and the difficulties of the sport. Our representative Andy MacDonald has been skating since he was 12 years old, his attitude towards the cameras throughout was one of a person loving what he was doing, and having the time of his life, the crowd loved him both his skating but also how he responded to the audience.
It made me think that it was so wonderful to see a person quite a bit older than the female skateboarders I saw a few days back most of whom seemed to be teenagers. Here was a man who was older but not limited by age.
God often gifted those who thought that they were past their prime with honours and blessings that they were not expecting, we have Abraham and Sarah blessed with a child, Elizabeth and Zechariah of advancing years becoming the parents of John the Baptist, Simeon and Anna greeting Mary and Joseph as they came to present offerings at the Temple for their purification after the birth of Jesus.
A prayer –
God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
God of Rachel, Hannah and Elizabeth
Thank you that you have always spoken to young and old, male and female, that those of advancing years have been given joy and blessings with faithfulness rewarded.
Enable us to be open to hear what new and exciting challenges you have for us, and help us to be willing to respond to the call you place into our hearts.
In Jesus name Amen