Platforms

I would ask you to close your eyes, but you obviously can't if you want to continue reading, so try to get this imagery in your head...

The whistle has just blown.  A sea of people immediately erupts with applause.  The camera flashes become blinding.  Exhausted and drenched with sweat, you walk back to the middle of the mat and remove your anklets, and it begins to hit you.  As you shake your opponents' hand and the referee raises yours, a lifetime's worth of preparation and work has just become a reality: NATIONAL CHAMPION.  The thousands of hours logged on the mat, on the treadmill, in the weight room, and in the van... all of the weekends sacrificed for a handful of matches... all of the doubters and critics who said you couldn't make it... they are all but distant memories to be blown away by this wind of accomplishment.  Of the thousands of young men who compete around the country in college wrestling, you have just joined the upper echelon, the elite group of young men who have gained near immortal status.  A mere ten will be inducted into such fame and notoriety this year.  Welcome to the club.  When the referee finishes presenting you to the crowd, you jog over to shake the opposing coaches' hands and then head towards your corner where a pair of open arms are waiting to catch you and kick off the celebration.  With a final salute to your fan club, you head down off the elevated mat towards a cluster of reporters, whose cameras and notepads are at the ready.  They are waiting for you.  What will you say?   

I know I'm biased, but if that doesn't give you goose bumps, I don't know what will!  This scenario had played out in my mind over and over throughout my career.  If my mind was a record player, this one would have been worn out from over usage.  I visualized it after our team's morning runs in the crisp October air.  I saw it week after week amidst grueling practices.  And I used it as motivation for workouts at stupid hours of the night that no one will ever know about.  You see, Coach Brunk had asked our team to take over this mindset and I had even taken him up on his challenge to write out what I was going to say once it happened.  I knew how it was going to go down once I got my platform:  I was finally going to get there and God was going to get the glory.  Win, win.

Well unfortunately, my dream didn't play out exactly like I planned.  The season ended and I was not standing on the top of the podium.  A few months passed and I was standing on top of another platform that I wasn't necessarily thrilled about.  I wanted a national championship and got cancer instead.  God has a sense of humor doesn't He?  Even better, He's got a plan!  For reasons that are still unknown to me, God decided that His kingdom would better be made known through my sickness rather than my athletic successes.  Through numerous conversations, I am beginning to understand that for a believer, every circumstance in life (for better or for worse) provides some sort of platform on which we have the chance to stand and give Him glory.  It might be a big one or it might be a small one.  You might like it, you might not.  You might have thousands of eyes watching you, or maybe just one pair.  Regardless, God is asking that we be responsible with what He places in our laps and use it for His glory.  In this light, suffering becomes opportunity and hardship becomes a gold mine for hope if we become willing to view it as such.

I recently heard John Piper say that "God pursues His own glory in all that He does."  This quote is now taped to the inside of my Bible.  We can read any passage in the Scriptures and draw that conclusion.  He gives both great blessing and allows painful suffering so that His gospel will become more real to mankind.  If we claim to be His children and identify with the new self, should we not be pursuing His glory in all that we do?  When He gives us platforms, do we waste them on our own fleeting glory or merely discard them as harsh circumstance?  Unfortunately, I have had to plead guilty on both accounts. 

Here is the challenge for us all.  God grants us all platforms of different sizes, durations, and significance throughout our lives.  For 4-6 months of my life right now, mine just so happens to be Hodgkin's Lymphoma, but that will most likely change in the near future.  Our struggle is to faithfully identify what God has placed in our lives to direct glory His way.  It could be anything... a job, an injury, a family circumstance, or a hidden talent.  You name it.  God can use it.

You're at center stage and the world is watching.  What are you doing with it?

For His glory,

MH