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I’m a sucker for the Olympics.  I’m not sure why, but for several weeks every two years my evenings consist of my wife and I sitting on the couch and watching an evening full of events.  Like every Olympic year, NBC rolls out a whole shlew of stories featuring athletes and their emotional struggles that led to them being the athletes they are today.  Very rarely do I hear stories of an athlete’s faith.  I know it’s probably not to the fault of the competitors, but more likely editorial decisions at the peacock network.

Anyway…I came across this video featuring Chad Hedrick. He’s a USA speed skater who won the bronze in the 1000m race in Vancouver (to add to his gold, silver and bronze from Torino in 2006).

In the video, he talks about his faith as an athlete and how it can be perceived by others.  He says:

I have guys from the media talking to me all the time and I tell them I want to have a great time, make special memories with my family, and if I go there and give 100 percent and it’s not enough, I know God has a path for me, and that‘s the path that I’m going to follow. They interpret that as: I’m soft, I’ve lost my competitive edge, I’m not very confident. But they really don’t understand; and I’m hoping throughout the Olympics and Vancouver that they see that I am still very competitive, and that you can be a Christian and still be a competitive person.

How about you?  Can it be tough to balance being a Christian and being competitive?  Does knowing if an athlete is Christian change to way you root for them in an event?

(This video came from the website Beyond the Ultimate which has a list of Christian Olympians and features their stories.)

An Atlanta family has received a lot of publicity for their decision to sell their big home, buy a smaller one and use the profits to help those in need.  The Salwen family says it all started when their 14-year-old daughter Hannah became upset with the unequal chances for people based on their wealth.  By selling their home, the family used the $800,000 to do a lot of work in two dozen villages in Ghana.

Below are two news stories about the Salwen’s, who have now written a book called “The Power of Half.”

From what I’ve read about the family, I can’t really tell you about their faith commitment.  Regardless, it begs the question: Could you majorly downsize your life, like this family did, to help the poor?

“What are you staring at?” a disheveled mom at the grocery story hissed at me.

Before I could answer, she spun around, and demanded that the clerk apologize—again—for accidentally bumping her cart with her newborn inside.

“I said I was really sorry,” the cashier replied meekly. “It was an accident.”

The angry mom turned her rage back towards me. She wagged her finger at Evie, my three year old, and Caleb, my four year old. “You’re the one with the crazy kids,” she yelled.

What had been a small supermarket mishap, one I hadn’t really been involved in, had suddenly turned ugly.

Caleb, who had been staring at the angry mom, turned his attention to me.

I paused, holding back my fury toward this mother for involving my children, and turned my back to her.

“Let’s zip up our coats,” I said to my kids. She stormed out of the store and I thought the situation was over.

But when we went out to the parking lot, she was circling around in her car, waiting for us. As I threw my kids into their car seats, she sped next to us, rolled down her passenger side window and started yelling at us again.

I climbed into the car and as she circled around again, I sped out of the parking lot. Thankfully she didn’t follow me.

As I drove, I couldn’t help but wonder how things had spiraled out of control so quickly. I wonder if I had responded in the right way. I didn’t stick up for my kids. In fact, I hadn’t said anything to her. The woman was right: my kids were acting crazy. Both of them were having major meltdowns. But would it had mattered if I had tried to explain that we were only at the store to get my sick son some juice and popsicles? Would it had helped if I had told her that Evie hadn’t napped and that I’d had a long day and my husband was going to be late?
Probably not.

I wondered what the rest of her story was. She was frantic, almost manic, and looked like she hadn’t showered in days, and probably hadn’t slept in a while. Did she have postpartum? Did she have help with the new baby?

I looked in my rearview mirror. My kids had calmed down and had fallen asleep. They will probably see a lot more ugly behavior in their lifetime. But it’s up to me to teach them how to respond. As Christians, when confronted with a hostile situation, how should we respond—especially when we have little eyes watching us?

Here are a couple of videos to get you through the weekend from the good folks at Worship House Media.

The first is for all of those people who get a little caught up in the Hallmark side of Valentine’s Day.

And this second one are some killer marriage tips from the comedy duo Johnny and Chachi.

Any thoughts?

Leading up to this year’s Super Bowl, there was some controversy about a pro-life ad from Focus on the Family.  The commercial featured Heisman Trophy Winner Tim Tebow and his mom Pam, who  talked about her decision not to have an abortion (without actually saying the word abortion).   Pro-choice groups criticized CBS for accepting the ad, which was the first “political” ad the network ever approved for the big game.

So what did you think?  Was the ad effective?  Did it live up to the hype?

(Reminder: Quick Thought comments should be short.  Maybe a few sentences but no more than 100 words or so.)

“We’ve decided to adopt from China?” I’d announce.

“Really! Why?” was usually the standard answer. Then came, “You know there are lots of babies who need good homes right here in the United States.”

I knew. And I’d seen some of their faces on adoption websites. It was gut-wrenching to read about them. The more I investigated the adoption process in the United States, the more I discovered our foster care system is bursting at the seams. There are literally thousands and thousands of kids who need and desperately want a family.

So why would we travel halfway around the globe for a baby?

I’ll admit, it’s a fair question.

I also investigated adoption programs in the Ukraine, Russia, South Korea, and a host of other countries. All with the same faces and stories of the kids I saw on the foster care websites. How could we pick? It was an impossible decision. So my husband and I started to pray about it. And as we prayed, it was clear  to me that when Christ called us to care for the fatherless he did not mean just those in the United States. He meant all children.

So I would say why not China? Why not Ethiopia, Haiti, South Korea, or the United States? Why not Russia or the Ukraine? It doesn’t matter what their birth circumstances are, a kid is a kid, no matter where they are born. Christians should be less concerned about where families chose to adopt from and more concerned and committed to caring for orphans.

There are thousands, dare I say millions, of children around the globe who desperately need a loving family. Too many die while they wait for a family. In legitimate adoptions, the birth family makes the painful decision to place the child for adoption. At the same time, many adoptive families, like mine, prayerfully considered which program to pursue.

We didn’t accidentally stumble across our daughter. I firmly believe that God knew she would be part of our family from the beginning of time.

So why did we choose China? The answer is simple: Because when God called us to get our daughter, that’s where she was. And we went.

(Amy has written children’s books, a teen magazine column, interviews, and adoption applications. She is the proud mother to two boys who are 7 and 4.  Her latest adventure led her to Beijing, China, with her husband Jonathan where they met their newest addition to the family, a two year old little girl.  You can read about her life, faith, and the ups, downs, and joys of motherhood at www.1001tears.blogspot.com.  Read her pervious TC post about the cost of adoption here.)