#291 (8/14) - The London Olympics - My Observations; Gabby's Faith Attacked

[FYI - My GENday is Sept. 19th. When is YOURS?]

AS I SEE IT - 1)PRAISE GOD that there were no terrorist attacks or even minor violent disruptions at the just concluded London Olymics. It would be natural to say that the security police did an admirable job, as I would have thought that especially which such a large Muslim population blended into the city population, terrorists would have made at least some attempt.(Are the police THAT much more effective since the subway bombings several years ago? Jihadists have not stated that they no longer want to attack Great Britan - as well as Israel and the US.) Also, it would be encouraging to think that maybe THEY are not that organized or well-funded but I tend to doubt that.

One thing that the world press will NEVER speculate is what part the SUPERNATURAL had a part in what DID NOT happen. Of course, I'm talking about the countless prayers that I assume were lifted up to God's throne during the Olympics that can only be fully known by God. What part HE might have played in answer to those prayers we will never know this side of Heaven. But intercessary prayer - inviting God into our needs - is such a mysterious thing in how it works that you just have to wonder. At least as believers, WE must be sure to thank God for HIS protection over the London Olympics of 2012.

2)The Opening and Closing Ceremonies. This was the first time that I watched the opening ceremony of any Olympics in many years. I was totally unprepared for the elaborate production that unfolded that night and kept wondering just what it all cost to produce. I was absolutely STUNNED to learn that just those few hours of entertainment cost $42 million!(I assume the CLOSING ceremony was also just as costly. I was so upset at the extravagance I ended up not watching most of that "ceremony.")

How has it come to be that just the OPENING CEREMONY of what is essentially an amateur sports event (granted one involving almost every nation on earth and watched by at least a billion people) involves the host city - which has already spent tens of billions of dollars to put on the Games - spending such an OBSCENE amount of money for a "ceremony?" I did some research and learned that a charity could dig 200 wells for that number of villages and provide clean water for probably more than 200,000 people for just $1 million! I wish that someone would finally say "Enough with trying to impress the world!"

What if the Olympic Committe limited the opening and closing ceremony to a budget of not more than $1 or $2 million each; maybe just decorations, an orchestra, and some fireworks? Let the host country impress the world by then giving an equal amount of money for something more practical,such as having clean water wells dug in several third world countries? Maybe someone could start a website dedicated to getting people to sign a petition urging such action beginning with the winter Olympics in 2014. - Stan
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"Attacking Gabby Douglas’s Faith? Really?"; August 6, 2012
http://aclj.org/free-speech-2/attacking-gabby-douglas-faith

It’s a sad commentary on modern life when I heard an exuberant 16-year-old thank God for the greatest success she might ever attain and immediately thought, “Someone’s going to attack her.” As surely as the night follows day, here comes Salon.com:

"As a Christian myself (albeit one of those really freaky papist kinds), I’ve often wondered what it is about Christians like Douglas that unnerves me so. The closest I’ve been able to figure it is that Douglas and her ilk seem to espouse a faith based on what is commonly referred to as “The God of Parking Spaces.” It’s the deity that grants wishes to those who ask nicely. Douglas is a girl who has described God as the figure who’s “waking me up every morning and keeping me safe in the gym every day.” She told People Thursday,“I was on the bus and it was raining and I thought, ‘It’s going to be a great day.’My mom used to tell me when I was little, ‘When it rains, it’s God’s manifestation, a big day’s waiting to happen.’ I texted my mom, ‘It’s raining. You know what that means.’[Added comment by writer of this article:]"It means that Russian girl is going down, I guess."

Thank you, Salon, for that oh-so-snarky takedown of a triumphant teenager. What makes it even worse, of course, is that Gabby’s life has hardly been full of sunshine, rainbows, and unicorns before this moment. She’s known more fear and heartbreak than the average teenager. Her father’s an NCO in the Air Force, and her parents are divorcing under the strain of multiple deployments:

The pressure to perform to the best of her abilities without her father by her side was at times too much for ‘The Flying Squirrel.’ While living with her coach in Iowa, Gabby would often wake up with anxiety about her father at war. She would rush to her computer and try to contact him on Skype.‘[I] Just had bad days in the gym, thinking about my dad,’ she said to NBC before the Olympics. ‘I’m just like “Whoa, what if he doesn’t come back (from Iraq)?” I was just horrified. I prayed every night.’

While Gabby gave most Americans a moment of joy last week, her family has been sacrificing in deep and profound ways far, far from the spotlight and far from Salon’s condescending “tolerance.” Had Salon done its homework, it would have seen that Gabby does not in fact simply pray to the “God of Parking Spaces” but instead to the God who watches over a father at war, to a God who provides comfort in the midst of family heartbreak, and yes to a God who gives good gifts to His Children including — very rarely — an Olympic Gold Medal.

If the writers at Salon can’t watch a child thank her Lord and Creator for a great day — maybe even her greatest day — without sniping at her faith, perhaps they are the ones who need to grow up.

[bold and italics emphasis mine]