Going for 7

Lance Armstrong announced today that he will ride the Tour de France this year in search of his 7th straight victory. There has been speculation since he won his sixth in July as to whether or not he would try and stretch his record, but nothing official until this morning. Lot's of folks in the cycling world (and the rest of the world, for that matter) have their opinions of whether or not he should or should not race. Arguments range from putting the record way out of sight to waiting a year to come back and challenge the '05 winner. All this aside, what really matters now is that he's committed. And when Lance is committed to something, there's nothing that will stand in his way (exept that whole marriage thing). But, as he himself would tell you, it's a long time till July and even then, it's a LOOOONNNNGGG....race! There are many things that could derail the guy. He trains on open roads and has been hit by cars in the past. He can't get into race shape by just riding a stationary trainer. He has to race! And if you've ever seen footage of a big crash in a bike race, just think NASCAR but without the flames, and ripped spandex instead of bent sheet metal. The worst crash I've ever seen was in the last stage of the TdF in the late 80s when a Russian named Abdujaparov (if you want to complain, YOU spell it!) swerved too close to a barrier in the final sprint and clipped it. He hit the ground headlong doing +/- 40mph and was ran over by at least one, maybe two, other riders. He didn't get up for like 10 minutes, but finally got himself over the line. Sick wreck! So, Lance has his work cut out for him. He has to train, race, plan, travel, train some more, and survive until then. Plus, he's a year older. But he's also the best TdF rider in the whole, stinkin' world with the best team in the whole, stinkin' world! We'll see what happens.

Proverbs 16:7 says, "When a man's ways are pleasing to the LORD, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him". O to live like the man whose ways are pleasing to the LORD! How great would that be? Not only would we have the satisfaction of knowing that you life is pleasing to the God of the Universe (really, this is the biggest thing to be considered here) but that our enemies would be civil with us. That's an interesting thought. Now, I've not lived long enough to develop a lot of what I would call enemies, but there have been a few folks over my quarter century of life who have come close on occasion. In second grade, there was this kid named Jesse. He didn't like me for some reason and made life rough for me on a consistent basis. He would chase me around the playground and one day it culminated in the closest thing to a real fight I have ever been in. I'm sure most of us can relate to this on some level. Think about what this verse is telling us: if our lives are pleasing to God, our enemies, whoever they might be, will live at peace with us. I'm not saying that life will always be easy or that kids will never get picked on or that someone in the office will never try to make us look bad. That's just not reasonable. But in trying to live the most godly and Christ-like lives we can puts us in God's good graces and he sticks up for his own. People may not like that you live a better life than them, but it will become more and more difficult for them to do or say any wrong about you or to you. "Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us". I think that's the goal: not that we try and rub people's noses in it but that our good lives would honor God and show him to others. Living a God-pleasing life is up to us, we must trust him with the rest.

Hey ya'll...
Sign up on the Youth Board for these two events:
Jr. High Retreat @ Camp Illiana on March 18-19.
Spring Retreat @ Johnson Bible College for Sr. High March 31-April 2.

Later...