The problems with the accommodations at the Sochi Olympics
were widespread. So-called hotel
rooms had no hot water, functioning toilets or beds. Rooms had either no
doorknobs or doors that lock you in your bathroom without warning. Going out beyond the room could lead you
to an open elevator shafts inside or open manholes outside. As one Olympian exclaimed,
"Wowzers!” It‘s hard to
imagine such things in American hotel rooms.
I noticed that the public face of the Olympics seemed much
more polished. The gleaming arenas in the resort town were beautiful and TV
presentations polished.
While the world's attention is focused on this dichotomy
between public appearance and behind the scenes reality, this kind of
contradiction is sadly found within all people. The external image of our
public persona too often shows a lack of character and integrity inside.
It's easy for one to attend to his projected persona and
ignore the internal foundation of his heart. One can pay too much attention to the external trappings of
life and too little to the internal spiritual and emotional health.
What about you? Do you concentrate on maintaining your internal change and
wholeness? Are the basics firmly built into your inner life? That means
attending to the basics of your relationship with God, your community, and your
own hidden heart.
Jesus described this strong infrastructure as a house
built with a deep foundation laid upon a rock, so that "when a flood arose,
the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been
well built," Luke 6:48 (ESV).
