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Saturday, June 04, 2016

The Olympic Torch And I

1984 Summer Olympics

I by chance saw the running of the torch on Coast Highway in Corona Del Mar back in 1984.

A few guys were running in a group with a motorcycle police escort.

And then once again, simply by chance I saw the running of the Olympic torch again on Coast Highway in Corona Del Mar just the other day here in 2016.

This time around there were what looked like a lot of police officers running the torch all dressed in black. "Law Enforcement Torch Run.”

What are the odds that I would be driving by just at the right moment in time?

  The major force behind the modern Olympics was the French aristocrat Baron de Coubertin (1863–1937).

In 1894 he organized an international conference in Paris to support a revival of the Games.

 Baron de Coubertin is said to have seen the five rings on an ancient Greek artifact.

 The rings symbolize the unity of the world’s five continents (Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, and the Americas). Every national flag in the world contains at least one of the five colors.

 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 

Jeremiah 29:11

First and foremost, we are all in this together.

This verse of Scripture does not apply to isolated individuals or to a broad community.

 It applies to both, together, functioning as one.

The image painted here is one of individuals in community, like the Body of Christ which Paul talks about.

Here are a bunch of people, worshiping God together, hoping for a future redemption.
 
The theologians Stanley Grenz and John Franke explain in their book Beyond Foundationalism just how a community “turns the gaze of its members toward the future.”

 The future in Jeremiah is one that is bright—one that everyone in the community through prayer and worship seeks as their collective future hope.

 Many of us want to desperately know the plan that God has for each one of us as individuals, but let the prophet Jeremiah remind us that it’s not all about us, and it might not look like what we think.

Even more important than our decision about which college to attend, which city to move to or what job offer to take is the future hope of the Kingdom of God foretold by the prophets and fulfilled in the reign of our now and coming King.

In this way, the promise of Jeremiah 29:11 is bigger than any one of us—and far better.

We pray for God's will on earth as it is in heaven.

Peace.

Love.

Joy in the Holy Spirit.

 Matthew 6:9–13 (ESV) 

"Pray then like this: 

 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.'"

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