Life Lessons from the TDF: Praying to Get Caught

Dan Martin of Ireland & Team Garmin Sharp
100th TDF - Stage 9

What a great stage win for Dan Martin today. Such a nice guy who had a big win in Liege-Bastogne-Liege this year as well. He attacked the peloton on the last of 4 big mountains today.  He was then joined by Jakob Fuglsang and, by working together, they stayed off the front on a harrowing 30 km descent down the mountain.  

At the end of the day, it's just a bike race and I don't want to make too much of it. But for me there were more than a few powerful life lessons from Dan Martin's post-race interview.

Life Lesson #1: "I don't think one guy would have survived alone."

• cycling is no more an individual sport than is the race of life.  We won't survive if we try to race alone

Life Lesson #2: "We were both giving it everything we could."

• anything less than a 100% effort will be insufficient to succeed in the race of life.
• "Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength (D&C 4:2)

Life Lesson #3: "I was actually praying to get caught with 20 km to go. My legs were hurting so much."  

• Neal A. Maxwell's provides amazing insights on this subject (here*): "We may at times, if we are not careful, try to pray away pain or what seems like an impending tragedy, but which is, in reality, an opportunity ... If we were allowed to bypass certain trials, everything that had gone on up to that moment in our lives would be wiped out." 
• Though he longed to be caught and fail so his suffering would end, he would not quit. "I just had to finish it off for the guys in the end."
• His perseverance paid off.

Dan's brilliant strategy in the last 1 km allowed him to sneak by Fuglsang for the win. He refused to go to the front, and instead stayed in the slipstream of the other rider. Then with 200 meters to go, he launched his sprint, just as they headed into a difficult left-hand turn.  It was obvious that Dan knew the course, having studied it beforehand. He was prepared. He knew when to make his move.

Life Lesson #4: "I knew what I was doing. I was very confident. That comes from the victory I've achieved this year ... It's a self-belief and a calmness that I enjoy now."  

• Those that persevere in the faith have similar confidence and calmness with comes as as we study and prepare ourselves. It is doubly rewarded by the small victories we have along the way in overcoming sin, hardship and adversity.
• "And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds, through Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:7)

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* I think these are some of the best teachings on adversity I have ever read.  This is a long talk, but so masterful and worth reading.

To Kvetch or Kvell?

kvetch - /k(ə)veCH/ 
(from Yiddish)

Noun

A person who complains a great deal

Verb

Complain

Oy vey! My last post has me on a serious tangent thinking about the persona and stereotypical portrayal of the chronic kvetch. It's a cool word given that it's both a verb and a noun. Some have argued that it is also an art form (here for a funny video; here for the whole symposium). At the very least, it is learned behavior.  The determinants that create a kvetch are complex and include societal, cultural and family dynamics.

Given my penchant for scriptural analogies to the mundane, I’ve been looking for the kvetch in the scriptures. From the biblical perspective, chronic complaining may be likened to murmuring.  Both Hebrew (luwn - Strong's H3885; to grumble, complain or murmur) and Greek (goggyzō - Strong's G1111; to murmur, mutter or grumble or those who chronically complain) words translated as murmur in the Bible describe the kvetch. Though there are probably many examples of the kvetch in scripture, we really don’t need to look further than the second chapter of The Book of Mormon for a great case study.

Nephi’s family is the best-described family in The Book of Mormon, and it has more than it's share of complainers. Admittedly, they are cast in the light of murmurers rather than complainers, but the difference is merely semantic.  Laman & Lemuel,* Sariah** and even Lehi*** all had their moments of murmuring. Add to these the constant complaining of Nephi's in-laws**** and it is safe to assume that oy vey was a familiar refrain in the Lehite home.

It is also safe to say that the hardships and trials that Nephi went through were at least as difficult as those of Laman and Lemuel.  The Psalm of Nephi (2 Nephi 4:16-35) is one of the most beautiful passages in scripture, and gives great insights into some of Nephi's struggles. 

O wretched man that I am! Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities. I am encompassed about, because of the temptations and the sins which do so easily beset me. And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins . . . why should my heart weep and my soul linger in the valley of sorrow, and my flesh waste away, and my strength slacken, because of mine afflictions? And why should I yield to sin, because of my flesh? Yea, why should I give way to temptations, that the evil one have place in my heart to destroy my peace and afflict my soul? 2 Nephi 4:17-19; 26-27

A common response to this kind of adversity would be to vigorously murmur and complain. It's certainly how Nephi's brothers generally responded. Yet Nephi does not kvetch, but rather he kvells. Kvell is another Yiddish verb meaning 'to be extraordinarily pleased; to be bursting with pride.' Consider his Psalm again: 

I know in whom I have trusted. My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep. He hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh . . . Rejoice, O my heart, and cry unto the Lord, and say: O Lord, I will praise thee forever; yea, my soul will rejoice in thee, my God, and the rock of my salvation. 2 Nephi 4:19-21, 30

Where Laman and Lemuel are defined by the kvetch, Nephi is defined by the kvell. His life is that of one who kvells over the things the Lord has done for him. The perfect brightness of hope he taught was not just some idea, but the experience that defined who he was--in spite of all of his adversity. While many of those around him despaired and complained at every turn, Nephi miraculously finds the way to "raise kvell".  What a guy.

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* Laman & Lemuel's murmuring: 1 Nephi 2:11-12; 3:5; 3:31; 4;4; 16:20; 17:17; 17:22; 17:49; 2 Nephi 1:26; 5:3-4

** Sariah's murmuring: 1 Nephi 5:2-3

*** Lehi's murmuring: 1 Nephi 16:20; 16:25

**** Murmuring of the in-laws: 1 Nephi 16:20, 16:35

Searching For Peace

Denisovich - by Leanne Rutter

I've been reading The Second World War (Antony Beaver) and been astounded at the magnitude of the suffering and hardship of the people that were caught up the the conflict. I had never known how unspeakably evil the likes of Hitler, Stalin and the leaders of the Imperial Army of Japan were until reading the details of their atrocities. It kind of shakes my faith in human decency to realize that these evil few were able to perpetrate the murder of millions with good propaganda and artful manipulation of people that all knew better. It's not exactly light reading, so I took a break by reading an inspiring work by a man that lived through these horrors and came through with his faith intact.

Fifty years ago, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn published One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, and let the light of day shine on the injustices of the Soviet GULAG (here for a related post). This book was almost impossible for me to put down and it still has me thinking. In the final minutes of his day, Ivan Denisovich chats with his bunkmate, Alyosha the Baptist. In a world of injustice and suffering, Alyosha was the one man in the camp that was at peace; his faith in Christ gave him hope for the world to come. Even though Alyosha's faith, hope and love were evident, his life remained hard--Ivan Denisovich thought it even harder than the other 'zeks'. Yet Ivan Denisovich concluded: "His voice and his eyes left no doubt that he was happy in prison." He may have been the only one.

It is sobering to realize that though we view Jesus Christ as the Prince of Peace, he warned his disciples that they would have tribulation in this life. 

Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. (Matthew 10:34)

 Yet Christ's message promised peace because he had overcome the world and his followers had hope to enter into his rest in eternity.

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (John 16:33)

Moroni referred to men like Alyosha as "peaceable followers of Christ" (Moroni 7:3). Though his world gave him more than his share of the tribulation that Christ promised, he was still at peace within.  Alyosha's faith, hope and charity allowed him to overcome the trials and disappointments of his world (Moroni 10:20-23).

One of my favorite hymns is Where Can I Turn For Peace (Hymns, 129; lyrics by Emma Lou Thayne; music by Joleen G. Meredith; here and here to hear it). 

Where can I turn for peace,

Where is my solace ,

When other sources cease to make me whole.

When with a wounded heart, anger, or malice,

I draw myself apart, 

Searching my soul

Where, when my aching grows,

Where when I languish,

Where, in my need to know, where can I run?

Where is the quiet hand to calm my anguish?

Who, who can understand

He, only One.

He answers privately,

Reaches my reaching,

In my Gethsemane, Savior and Friend

Gentle the peace he finds for my beseeching.

Constant he is and kind

Love without end

Though peace often seems elusive, we are so blessed to know that through Christ it remains within our grasp. We need not look far to see those that have found it.

TDF & Clean Competition

Another rider from Cofidis booted out of the TDF, all while the names of who's who of American cycling for the last decade are tossed about as dopers. Paul Riddle took 2nd in Saturday's local triathlon behind a guy who has been sanctioned by USA Cylcing! It makes it hard to still believe in the spirit of the sport.

But there is still a few of us die-hard tifosi out there (as evidenced below, Mochi is the number one tifosa in the house). When guys like David Millar of Team Garmin-Sharp-Barracuda[1] win, it feels like there is hope.  

Now that is a well-trained cat

She's liking Tejay Van Garderen for White Jersey

 

Millar is a 35-yr old Scot, and an admitted doper from cycling's prior era of officials turning a blind eye to the endemic plague of performance-enhancing drugs. He served a 2-yr suspension for using EPO in 2004 (when he was riding for . . . who else but Cofidis . . .) and ever since has been working as an advocate of clean cycling. Stage 12 was his reward, winning the 226 km stage on the line after an monster breakaway in which they were off the front of the peloton most of the day.

After the stage, an exultant Millar said:

“I operate best in adversity, I’ve got quite a bit of experience of making a mess of my life, but if you can learn from that it will toughen you up mentally. It was nice to show everybody that we are still here."

I love this guy. Bravo! There's still plenty to cheer about, so Mochi and I can hang in there for the last week.

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[1] Ryder Hesjedal, who also rides for Team Garmin Sharp Barracuda, became the first Canadian ever to win a Grand Tour when won this year's Giro d'Italia.