Winter Olympics?
I admit it, I’m a sportist.
I discriminate against other sports. I am prejudice. I favor a particular sport over all others.
NFL football, NCAA football, and by the time March rolls around, college basketball.
So, it’s taken me a while to get into the Winter Olympics.
But I couldn’t believe what I saw last night. In pairs figure skating, guys were holding their partners over the head with one arm while turning around and around on their skates. Have you ever skated before? And later when I saw the snowboard half-pipe competition and people flipping and rotating way up in the air, I was floored. I can’t even begin to tell you what a ‘1020’ is, but apparently it’s not even that spectacular anymore.
I can accept that the performance of these athletes makes me feel like we are part of different species, comparatively. But what gives me pause is this question: How could they imagine doing what they’re doing?
Imagination. Vision.
How often do we get stuck, not because we lack skill, talent, ability, time, resources.
Just because we lack imagination. Or rather because we accept the status quo produced by our daily demands, a status quo that atrophies our imagination.
This Sunday at the Gathering Church, we look at a story of a man of incredible imagination.
Phillip, a relatively new follower of Christ, heads to new territory to tell others about Jesus. He goes to Samaria, the historically bitter enemy of Israel. We continue the series: Living in God’s Story. And once again, God’s Story surprises us. Read Acts 8:1-25. Pay attention to the bonus character: Simon. What’s his deal?
What would you do if God’s Story was growing in your life? Where would you go? What would you imagine?