If you’ve been following the Winter Olympics, you may be aware of Chris Mazdzer, the first athlete from the US to win a medal in the luge. After taking silver,  Mazdzer was asked how he did it:

“Honestly? It’s all in the mentality. I was so comfortable with who I am. I had to go through those ruts to be comfortable with who I am without results. Basically, as a human, I’m comfortable where I’m at, I know what I can do, I know what I can give to the world…I was just so relaxed, just knowing that. I was really at peace with myself. So no matter what happened, I have an amazing group of friends and family that are there to support me, and I think they give me tons of energy for this.”

Nick Lannon, writing at Mockingbird, brings this around to our relationship with God:

“Chris Mazdzer gets it. If he had to slide fast to earn the love and acceptance of his family, he’s done for. He might as well have—and probably would have—crashed into the first turn. How sweet it is for him, then, to know that the love and acceptance of his family is something he already possesses…. He is free to go all out, court failure, and actually win (or at least come as close to winning as an American luger could possibly get)….

“When we lie back on the luge and look down the track of the Christian life (too far? I’ve stretched the metaphor too far, haven’t I? Oh well, might as well plow ahead…), we can push off knowing that we can crash into every turn all the way down and not sacrifice one iota of love, acceptance, and favor that is ours, from God, on account of Christ.”

From Mockingbird. (<– click there to read the whole thing)