Paul (the apostle) used sports analogies to teach spiritual practices. He talked about training and perseverance.
A big part of my professional life is attending conferences. This week I was in Orlando for a big software conference with about 1,800 of my closest friends (as they say). One of my colleagues remarked, “A keynote is just a keynote.” There are about three kinds of keynotes in our professional circles. One is for the CEO or business leader to talk about how great things are and how they serve their customers (who each paid around $1,000 to be there). The second is for the technology head to present new products.
The first two are staples of the trade. The third type of keynote speaker is tasked with imparting some emotional response to get the audience charged up to learn more and go out and conquer the world.
Sugar Ray Leonard, boxing legend, gave the third type of keynote at this week’s conference. I’m not a fan of boxing, but his presentation was moving. Intermixing clips from his more famous fights, he talked us through the triumphs and defeats of a champion.
Paul would have been proud of some of his points. Determination, training, endurance, perseverance. He showed how keeping the goal in mind during the toughest fights kept him in the fight until the end. Without training and preparation, he would never have had the endurance to come back when he was behind and achieve victory. How to overcome defeat and bounce back higher than before.
These apply to our spiritual life as well as our professional life or personal life. We must be determined to reach to goal of living with Jesus. Without training, such as study, prayer, meditation, service, we will never stay in the fight. Those are part of the foundation to help us bounce back from personal tragedies to be stronger in the faith than before.
As I said, I’m not a fan of the fights. But watching his clips of comebacks against the odds gave me chills all over. And the encouragement to continue on my own journey.
[I’m heading to Germany tomorrow for another business event. My timing will be off, but hopefully I can keep the posts up. Maybe I’ll see a couple of readers there?]
Faith Venture 
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