My time is coming to a close here as a sport chaplain in the athlete village. On my last day I had a nice visit with Brent, whom I’ve known since I helped coach him in the “Racing Rabbits” xc ski program over 10 years ago. Ironically, I’d just spent the day earlier with his parents watching the men’s 4x10km relay. Part of being a sports chaplain also means ministering to families and volunteers.
When Brent came by the Faith Centre he brought with him an athlete I’ve been hoping to meet. A young gal named Brittany. She’s pretty much the only Canadian xc skier on the nat’l team I don’t know. It’s funny how sometimes you have to go a long ways away to meet someone that lives, trains and competes just minutes from your own door. But often it’s the common ground that brings us together. I shared with them what some of the opportunities they had to grow spiritually via the small group meetings, pre-comp chapels ad 1 on 1 mentoring meetings (both here and at home). They both seemed receptive.
Funny how being at your first Olympics makes you maybe more open to things you normally wouldn’t consider when in the more familiar surroundings. I think the Olympic experience opens people up in many ways...bringing them out of their normal way of viewing their world.
There has been a Lithuanian skier named Mantis coming by a lot. We’ve had a lot of good talks about skiing, faith and life...well mostly skiing. I think he’s opening up spiritually. He comes by because their room is in the same building. In the process of our visits I’ve been feeding him some of our Sport/Faith material....sport New Testament and DVD with athlete testimonies. Small seeds that hopefully will sprount. Today we exchanged emails. I’m sure our paths will cross again.
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