| | When I got home from BSF last night I saw that Andy Roddick and Novak Djokovic were playing live from the Australian Open on ESPN2. Seeing as how Andy Roddick is the last American man left in the tournament and Djokovic is the defending champion I became intrigued and wanted to watch and see how it played out. I began watching the match near the end of the third set; they had already split the first two sets. When I started watching I noticed that Djokovic wasn't moving around quite so well. A short time later I found out why. As the camera panned over to the courtside thermometer the needle was close to 60 degrees Celsius (that's around 140 degrees Farhrenheit)! Meanwhile Roddick was on the other side of the court sprinting for short balls and continued smashing winners (and a few unforced errors).
Roddick wound up winning the third set to go up two sets to one and kept glancing over at Djokovic to see if he would just up and retire the match. Seeing as how Djokovic was the defending champion, he just kept playing hoping that something...anything would begin going his way. However, after playing the first few games and already having his serve broken Djokovic informed the chair umpire that he couldn't continue, retired the match, and conceded victory to Roddick.
I was simply amazed at how well Andy Roddick was playing despite the court conditions being so very horrendous. I say this because I don't even want to be on a tennis court when the weather is even close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit much less 140. The commentators watching the match attributed Roddick's victory to the intense conditioning he did in the off season. As Roddick met with the courtside reporter he explained the amount of discipline he put himself through in the offseason in order to prepare him for this upcoming tennis season. Boy, did it pay off! He would be out on the track at 6am and then spend 3-4 hours on the court practicing afterwards daily during the offseason. It's this type of conditioning and discipline that allowed him to stronger than his opponent in such hostile conditions.
As I listened to Roddick's interview about the training and discipline he did in the offseason, I started to reflect on this applies to us Spiritually as Christians. Our training and discipline comes in the form of spending time in His Word, living out His commands, and tapping into the power of the Holy Spirit. It's these things that help us endure the hostile conditions that life throws at us. It really does go back to what Paul wrote about running the race:
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualifiied. - 1 Cor 9:24-27 (ESV)
Too often we treat our walk with God as a sprint and forget that it is actually a marathon. Am I constantly doing what I need to discipline my body and keep it under control? Am I feasting daily on His Word and filling myself with the Holy Spirit in order to have the self-control I need to stand up to temptations? When the enemy attacks, am I prepared through the constant Spiritual training and discipline to know what to do? When my life starts to heat up, will I be sprinting around the court and smashing winners like Andy Roddick, or will I simply begin to wilt in the sun like Novak Djokovic? I know what I want to do, and that is why I choose to submit to the Holy Spirit to discipline and train myself.
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| | Posted 1/27/2009 3:25 PM - 7 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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