A "Competition" for Glory

The past 8 days I've been hanging out with my great friend Rob who leads a mighty and life changing work.  Rob directs the Northern Ireland office of Ambassadors in Sport.  It's fair to say that Rob is crazy, in a wonderful sort of way.  Rob dreams up ridiculous things and then convinces other people to be invovled.  I respect that.  

For example, last year Rob convinced over 30 people to ride bikes across the whole of the African continent to raise money and awarness for the development of Hope Academies (see http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/kicking-crime-11069702) in disadvantaged communities.  

We passed these guys somewhere on the road near Ballymena, Ireland!

The past 8 days Rob and I have literally traveled to every corner of Northern Ireland to speak about the work of Ambassadors and to challenge people to consider how they spend their lives in light of the grand scope of eternity.  Along the way we saw more than a few sheep, several cows crossing the road and rain - lots of it.  

It was a cool trip.  I think God used us to light some fires, encourage some folks and hopefully, call a few into a relationship with Jesus for the first time.  That said, I feel I must share in this public space a dilemma I encountered in one meeting.  In all my years, I've not encountered this type of issue prior.  I wonder, what would you do if someone had the most horrifying gas you've ever heard, in a room full of high school persons?  Would you stop what you were discussing to acknowledge that gas, or, would you persevere, pretending you did not hear this horrible noise despite the mass hysteria it elicited amongst the crowd?

I kept going pretending I didn't hear what sounded to me like a bomb exploding in an art museum.  In retrospect I'm not sure that I made the right decision?

I must admit, upon branding this blog "A competition for glory" I had not thought of the physical implications.  I suppose one would not necessarily consider things of that nature when branding a blog.  That was probably my mistake.  Needless to say, I'm am now aware that in Ireland the competition for glory is indeed alive.  

A final thought.  It turned out that the someone who had the horrible gas was in fact a 32 year old group leader.  I wasn't too sure what to do with that information, but there you have it.  This expirience is now off my chest and I can move on.  

~ SDG