You know, I think ALL athletes in all sports glorify God in some way.
They demonstrate the highest physical conditioning and achievements that human beings, God’s greatest creation, are capable of. And they do it in so many ways–there is such a difference between a female figure skater (singles) and a male weight lifter–but when they are both at the top of their sport, they are sheer perfection.
(Yes, I know, it’s possible that the female figure skater is anorexic and the male weight lifter is popping steroids, but let’s assume that both athletes are doing everything right and healthily.)
My mother (R.I.P.) spent the last 20 years of her life fighting debilitating rheumatoid arthritis that destroyed her joints (even her jaw joints were affected, and she could not eat in the last few months of her life). At a fairly young age (early 60s), she was not able to walk without a walker, but even that was painful because her fingers, wrists, and elbows were so painful and twisted.
But she loved watching sports. I remember when Michael Johnson (the track star with the golden sneakers) won so many Olympic Gold medals and won the title of Fastest Man Alive, she said, “He’s so beautiful! I love watching him run!”
Of course she would appreciate watching someone that did what she could only dream of doing in heaven.
I think when she said that, for the first time, I fully appreciated"what God hath wrought," and I understood Jim McKay’s comments on Wide World of Sports–“the human drama of athletic competition.”
For me, watching a really high level synchronized skating team (e.g., Russia or Finland) perform their programs is inspiring and causes me to give glory to God for creating humans with the ability to discover how to fly across the ice with the aid of steel blades on our feet, how to put 16 skaters on the ice together and choreograph a program that makes them “one” organism, and bring us to tears with the beauty of their dangerous and wondrous sport.
If I had millions of dollars to spend, one thing I would do with it is recruit the best singles, pairs, dance, and synchro teams in the world (including several U.S. teams, including my daughter’s teams!) and possibly even some of the skaters who are still working on the old school figures (which are rather hypnotic to watch done), and also an orchestra and choir with conductor, and I would produce “Handel’s Messiah on Ice.” I think combining the “beautiful danger” of the sport of figure skating with the majestic music of Handel’s Messiah would result in a piece of sport/art that would come as close to heaven as humans can get while on this earth. (Of course, the actual work of producing it would probably not be at all heavenly–ai yi yi! But it would be worth it!)
