Be Still And Know

2 Timothy 2:5 I wonder if you remember that agonising moment in the 2022 Commonwealth Games when our amazing 4x400m women’s relay team was disqualified. It was all the more painful because they seemed to have won the race. They gave a confident and delighted interview straight after their success, only to learn that Jodie Williams and Victoria Ohuruogu had stepped out of lane on the second leg of the relay. Their smiles of rejoicing quickly turned to tears of distress. It was all terribly sad to watch, but the fact is that they had infringed the rules. As hard as it may be, there have to be rules in every sport - and that has always been the case. The metaphor of the soldier that we looked at yesterday was drawn from Roman life. However, the metaphor of the athlete was definitely drawn from Greek life. The Greeks had established their games at Olympia in the 8th Century BC and conducted them for the next 800 years. They had elaborate rules which governed every part of the games, including the preparation