Smashing Goggles

"Faith is not the belief that God will do what you want. It is the belief that God will do what is right.” ~ Max Lucado

Have I mentioned that I love Michael Phelps?  Maybe once?  Twice?  Three times?  Because I do.  Messy hair, big ol' ears and lanky long arms and all.

Earlier this week, they showed an interview of his coach, Bob Bowman, and asked him about the different says things he has done to Michael to stress him out in practices.  Shown up late to go to a meet so that he gets there all frazzled and out of sorts.  Hidden his goggles before a race.  Stepped on his goggle and smashed them so that they would fill up with water while Michael was swimming.  The coach sounds like some crazy practical jokester gone wrong.

Now flash back to Beijing 2008.  Michael Phelps won gold in the 200M Fly.  And afterwards, Phelps threw his goggles on the deck and looked upset.  When he got out of the pool, he mouthed to his coach, "I couldn't see a thing!"  His goggles had filled up with water.  Here he was, on the biggest stage and biggest moment of his life, and disaster struck.

Except, for Phelps, it wasn't a disaster.  He had been there before.  Thanks to his coach smashing his googles in practice, he knew exactly what to do.  He counted his strokes, touched the wall first, and won the gold medal.

You know....I think that sometimes God smashes our goggles.  He gives us trials and struggles and challenges that we do not understand.  Sometimes it seems like a crazy practical joke is being played on us.  We don't get what we think we need.  He does not answer the way that we hoped.  The plan does not work out the way that we had intended.

But like Bob Bowman, God knows what he's doing.  He's preparing us for the future--for the moment when our glasses fill with water during the Olympics.  In that moment, we will know what to do and how to deal with it.  Because our God--like Michael's coach--has prepared us well.