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.

Perspective On Taking the Lord's Name in Vain

The Deuteronomy Scroll
A copy of the Ten Commandments as recorded in Deuteronomy 5
The Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit - Philadelphia, PA - 2012
Photo: Israel Antiquities Authority

When I visited the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit in Philadelphia I was very moved by the display of The Deuteronomy Scroll, which recites the Ten Commandments.

You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold guiltless the one who takes his name in vain. The Deuteronomy Scroll*

Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. KJV Deuteronomy 5:12

Recently I was using email to coordinate care of a mutual a patient with a Jewish friend and colleague.  After I had recommended some laboratory testing and treatments, he got back to me as follows:

"Copy and G-d bless!"

I was amazed. These days respect for the name of God has all but disappeared in the working language of many people--even the most religious. Devout Jews, have always excelled in showing God not only respect, but also reverence. I was so refreshed to see reverence for God in an ordinary email. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we also take the directive in the 3rd commandment very seriously. I know this reflects well on us, just like it reflects well on our Jewish friends. 

Up until recently, I've viewed the 3rd commandment from the narrow perspective of the profane use of the name of deity.  This all changed for me while I was studying the process of taking on the name of Christ. I searched the scriptures using two search words: "take" and "name". At first blush, the results seemed to be contaminated with references to taking the name of the Lord in vain.  I passed over the contaminated search results and focused on on the subject at hand: taking on the name of Christ. 

And whoso taketh upon him my name, and endureth to the end, the same shall be saved at the last day. 3 Nephi 27:6 (emphasis mine)

There is no other name given whereby salvation cometh; therefore, I would that ye should take upon you the name of Christ, all you that have entered into the covenant with God that ye should be obedient unto the end of your lives. Mosiah 5:8 (emphasis mine)

The more passages I reviewed, the more impressed I was was how frequently scriptures that tell us to take on the name of Christ also emphasize the need to endure to the end (see also 2 Nephi 31:13-15; Moroni 6:3; D&C 18:21-24; D&C 20:37). It then occurred to me that my search may not have been 'contaminated' at all. 

To take on the name of Christ, yet fail to endure to the end, is to take the Lord's name in vain. Such a person supplants Christ's name with another name. And, no matter what that name may be, it will not save them. It is the vainest of hopes to somehow believe it will. In fact, it may represent the most egregious example of taking the name of the Lord in vain. 

Taking the name of Christ is the most important thing we ever do as a believer since it is the first step in accessing the atonement (Acts 4:10-12; Galatians 3:27; Mosiah 5:10). It becomes the charge of all those blessed with a witness of the divinity of Jesus Christ and the restoration of his Church to not only take his name, but to identify with his name, and then reverence it through the lives we live--to the end. 

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* Abegg, Flint & Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible (1999, Harper: San Francisco), page 154.