A Letter to the USADA

A truthful witness gives honest testimony,

but a false witness tells lies.

Proverbs 12:17

 

Integrity:  firm adherence to a code of moral values;

the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions.

 

Hypocrisy:  promoting virtues, moral beliefs, principles,

etc., that one does not actually have, and is also

guilty of violating.

 

Cheating:  An immoral way of achieving a goal;

the breaking of rules to gain advantage

in a competitive situation.

Lance Armstrong:  “I went and looked up the definition 

of cheat, and the definition is to gain an advantage on a 

rival or foe.  I didn’t view it that way.

I viewed it as a level playing field.”

 

Dear Travis Tygart:

 

Lance Armstrong can tell his "story" to Oprah Winfrey or anyone else who will listen (what was he paid for that interview, by the way?), paint his past actions any color he desires, ignore his detractors, whine about his harsh punishment, give white-washed definitions to age-old crimes, and pout about his banishment from sports competition.  At the end of the day?  He is still nothing but a cheater:  a man who would do anything to win, including breaking the fundamental rules of the game; a man who lied, and lied, and lied - and expected everyone around him to lie with and for him.

 

What does Mr. Armstrong want now?  Why, to be let back into the game - to have the ban lifted that prohibits him from competing in sports.  He wants a slap on the wrist and a return to glory.  I, for one, do not believe he should ever be allowed to return to competition.  Why?  It's very simple:  the man does not know how to compete without cheating.

 

The prophet Jeremiah asked the question, Can a leopard change its spots?  The obvious answer is, No.  Neither can Mr. Armstrong change who he fundamentally is:  a man who believes himself so privileged that he is above and beyond all the rules - a law unto himself.  His character is not one that we would hold up for our children to emulate; instead, he is the poster boy for all that we don't want our children to be.  Rather than allow him back in the limelight, I believe that his doping and the subsequent massive coverup should be sufficient evidence to permanently bar him from any sports venue. 

Thankful: For Integrity

Do you swear to tell the truth,

the whole truth, and

nothing but the truth, 

so help me God.

~Witness's Oath

My father was a big fan of the truth.  He told me that a person's word - his/her truthfulness - was the most important part of their character.  He said that my integrity was based on my honesty - on my ability to face up to and live the truth.  He also told me that no matter how look it took, the truth would always come out eventually. There were times growing up when I didn't want to hear what he had to say, but through the years I have come to realize that those lessons were the finest counsel he ever gave to me.

 
Through the years of his sports career, I have never had an opinion one way or the other about Lance Armstrong.  I am not a cyclist, and have never been a fan of the sport of cycling.  Yes, I heard the news of victory after victory at the Tour de France, but I never thought much about him one way or the other.  He seemed a pleasant-enough fellow, and his story of over-coming cancer was certainly inspiring.

Over the years, the accusations of doping by Mr. Armstrong never seemed to die away.  His vehement denials seemed sincere enough.  As my father said, however, the truth does eventually rise to the surface, and that is certainly true in the case of Lance Armstrong.  Evidence painstakingly gathered by Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, laid bare the moral decay of Mr. Armstrong and his cronies and their blood doping scheme.  Stripped of every title he has earned after years and years of deception and lying, Armstrong finally decided that he would come clean and tell the truth on a television show with Oprah Winfrey.

Problem is - when you have lied, cheated, deceived and schemed for most of your adult life, you come to the place where you wouldn't know the truth if it slapped you in the face.  The "confession" that Armstrong told to Oprah is the one he wants us to believe.  Is it the truth?  USADA's Tygart says, no, it's just more lies.  When one of his former teammates says, "I wouldn't believe a thing that comes out of his mouth anymore," then chances are, we probably shouldn't either.

 

Thankful: For Snow

...though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be as white as snow.

Isaiah 1:18

I woke up early this morning - full of bustle and energy - at least an hour before my usual rising time.  My daughter and I dropped off my car at the Napa Auto Center around 7:50 a.m., then I took her back to the house and borrowed her car to go across town to the credit union, Tom Leonard's farmer's market, and Trader Joe's.  A stop at my insurance office to sign a document for my youngest daughter, and I was finished with the day's "run around" chores before noon - a record, I'm sure, for me!

After lunch, I busied myself with finishing up my grades for the last nine weeks, going through mail, dragging out the vacuum cleaner for a thorough run through the house, setting out some fresh Sabbath flowers, finishing up the order for matching shirts for the adult handbell choir, and doing some research on the Internet.  Around 3:00 p.m., I walked out of the office and decided to check outside to see how cold it was.  Imagine my surprise when I opened the door and found a beautiful mantle of white covering the lawn, the streets, and our cars!  When I checked the weather this morning, it did not say one thing about snow - so where did this all come from?  I grabbed a hat, coat, gloves and the snow shovel and moved the first inch of snow off the porch, sidewalks, driveway and vehicles.  I ended up going back outside around 6:00 p.m. to remove the last (almost) inch from the same surfaces.

New-fallen snow is one of the most beautiful sights in the world.  Within the brilliant white is a clarity and purity that can be found few other places.  This snowfall started with light, fluffy flakes, then changed to little tiny spheres of ice, topped by more of the fluffy stuff.  It turned my brown winter grass into a sparkling fairytale landscape. Viewing a fresh snow scene always fills me with a sense of peace and joy.  How marvelous of Jesus to use a snowfall as the illustration for what He can accomplish in our lives.