Sportsmanship and competition

God Defend New Zealand, watching the stadium full of supporters, loyal kiwis, united together to support our men in black who represent our country for us. The sound of the our anthem filling the stadium, "God of nations, at thy feet…. powerful!" The moment I started to watch the game, waking up before dawn I knew I was in for a never to be repeated morning of sports magic. 

It is undeniable that rugby is a game that values discipline, hard work, teamwork and devotion to not only the sport yet to the country you are lovingly representing. The courage that’s needed to make that extra tackle when you are defending your line, or putting you hand up for the next pick and goal, or taking the high ball when a bevy of defenders are heading straight for you – that all comes from within.  Those men in black literally put their bodies on the line for the jersey, for themselves, for their mates and for the country. Im not surprised that Im not surprise that it comes with a heavy heart for the men to hand in their shirts, to tell their country that it has been an honor to represent them, to journey beside them however time to exit the locker room and start another chapter, off the field. 

Today as I sat in the silent church waiting for the priest to walk in to begin mass. A very Australian, through and through, parishioner came up to me to congratulate me on our success; in return I offered our condolences to her. Saturday evening, there had been friendly banter exchanged, my over confidence in my team meet head on with her pride and hope that her team could over come the odds. Been a rugby fan, it would had been hard to come and accept that my heart belonged with the opposition, that resulted in taking her excitement and joy away, that challenged her team resulting in them not coming out with a metal. Yet what sportsmanship does that was shown is amazing, if only their sportsman that actually play the games would learn from her….

Rugby illustrates a very strong connection to faith. It is easy to build team unity, after all it is shaping individualistic outlook into one of a team. Yet faith, faith helps keep the team together its a bond between them. The love of the game comes from the way the team plays; not just with talent yet with raw aggression and physicality. On top of this, the source of strength and power is faith, it is far from a weakness more a foundation of source and strength. Just look at the players when achieve goals, the first thing some of them do is bless themselves, look up and give thanks, or just praise the Lord. In rugby you are not judged for what you believe, you are purely judged on how you play the game and the integrity of your character. 

I think I can make the general assumption that not many of us will play for a team like the All Blacks, nor will we get to represent our country in the Olympics. None of us will stand on the top podium, have the national anthem playing with a flag hanging behind us. 

YET

Each of us are in a race and constantly encouraged to run, to be proud, to seek and find. The 'award' we seek is Christ-likeness , the sport/race we run is called life, and our greatest competition is self!! In order to win, we must deny self, take up our cross and follow our Lord. This small sentences has so much weight, so much gold, so much beauty to it, simple yet powerful. I can't imagine what it must feel like to know that you have won an award for your country, but I am sure that the trill of that moment will be nothing in comparison to the applause of meeting our heavenly Father.