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Connections&
Jesus was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white & Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus.
Mark 9:2-10
Life Cycles
One of the most inspiring sports stories of recent memory was Lance Armstrong's winning of the Tour de France last summer. The 28-year-old native of Austin, Texas, is only the second American ever to win the world's premier bicycle race.
In 1993, three years after winning the world and U.S. pro championships, Armstrong started feeling tired and sore and his performance was beginning to suffer. He didn't think much about it until he began coughing up blood. Doctors found that he had advanced testicular cancer -- and the disease had spread to his abdomen, lungs and brain. He was given only a 40 percent chance of surviving -- and no chance of returning to his sport.
After surgery, Armstrong underwent four aggressive rounds of chemotherapy, but following each session he would ride his bike 30 to 50 miles. The cancer disappeared -- "a miracle" he said.
Armstrong sat out all of 1997. Then early in 1998 he dropped out of a race when he found he wasn't mentally ready. He was about to quit cycling for good, but, after riding in the North Carolina mountains with a friend, he changed his mind. Although he was fine physically, Armstrong concluded, "I learned what's important is not just the convalescence of the body, it's the convalescence of the spirit as well.
"You go through the bad news and the treatment," Armstrong says. "You spend a year so terrified that you feel like you deserve a vacation for the rest of your life. But you have to return to your family and peers. You have to get your priorities right."
Last July, Armstrong didn't just win the 21-day, 2,287 mile Tour de France -- he dominated it. He said of his recovery and win: "[It] sends a message that cancer is not a death sentence."
[The New York Times, July 26, 1999.]
CONNECTION: Lance Armstrong and his family have lived the Gospel of the transfiguration: that in the burdens we bear we discover our strength, that resurrection is realized only after crucifixion, that the entry way to eternal life is death. The vision Peter, James and John witness on the mountain top is a glimpse of the glory that will be Jesus' -- once he completes the journey to Jerusalem and the events of Holy Week are fulfilled. May we live our journey to God with the hope of the transfiguration: that from the crucifixions we suffer, Eater will dawn; from the deaths we endure, resurrection will be realized.
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