God's Coaching #61

God's Coaching #61

Did you catch any of the skeleton competition at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, where Amy Williams of Great Britain and Canada’s Jon Montgomery took home Olympic gold? No, skeleton isn’t an X-ray contest between Olympic athletes to see who has the healthiest bones! That would be silly. The sport of skeleton requires athletes to run down a bobsled track, jump headfirst onto a lunch tray (at least that’s what it looks like), and race down a mountain at breakneck speed.

Skeleton is not for the faint of heart. Riders, who wear little protection other than a helmet, reach speeds up to 85 miles per hour! On some courses, they can experience g-force ratings of plus five. That means the fastest riders feel like they weigh more than five times their actual weight as they’re barreling down the track. Skeleton racers can only steer by using slight body movements, and they don’t have brakes. Only getting to the bottom slows them down. Gulp.

What’s the Score?

All this talk about skeletons brings to mind a cool Bible story about bones. In Genesis 50:25, Joseph made an interesting request. You remember Joseph, right? His father, Jacob, gave him a coat of many colors, which made his brothers jealous. So they sold Joseph into slavery, and he wound up in Egypt, where he eventually became second in command to Pharaoh and was happily reunited with his family.

Just before dying, Joseph made his brothers promise that one day the Israelites would transport his dead bones out of Egypt. It might sound like an odd request, but actually it showed great faith.

Joseph remembered God’s promise to his great-grandfather, Abraham—that God would make a great nation of Abraham’s descendants and bring them into the Promised Land. Sure enough, more than 400 years later when God freed Israel from Egyptian slavery, Moses honored Joseph’s request (Exodus 13:19), and Joseph’s bones were buried in the Promised Land (Joshua 24:32).

Joseph had great faith, which the Bible defines as belief in something we can’t see. We can’t see God, but we must have faith in him. In fact, Hebrews 11:6 says no one can please God without faith. We can’t get to heaven without it. That’s the truth—make no bones about it.

On the Ball

Faith can be hard to understand. To learn more, read all of Hebrews 11. Write down a couple of your favorite lines:

Coach’s Comment

It is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. Hebrews 11:6