For those of you who might not recognize the guy celebrating above. This is Novak Djokovic, one of the greatest tennis players of all time. I doubt he’s ever been this emotional following one his twenty plus Grand Slam titles. Embracing his family in victory like never before. I could just as easily have featured Scotty Scheffler or Stephen Curry here. Two of the best known, legendary sports icons of our time. Equally as excited as Novak. All three experienced something uncommon this past week.

Freely flowing tears following a victory. Tears in celebration of winning a gold medal at this year’s Olympic Games in Paris.

Tears …really? All were multimillionaires, many times over. Between them they’d been winners of tennis grand slams. Major golf tournaments. NBA championships. A tear or two collectively for all of these? Maybe. But nothing close to the tears shed in Paris by these great stars

This was both refreshing and revealing. Refreshing because emotion expressed like this from men like these is rare. But this was the Olympics. As apposed to all those other wins… a win in Paris did not include the usual multimillion dollar purse. The prize money for winning a gold medal? Zero. Nada.

Through these great athletes the Olympic Games revealed precisely why they are special, so unifying, unique. In the chaotic world we’re living in, such a wonderful place to immerse and give ourselves a break. A little rest for a week or two. Indeed, something different had taken place in Paris last week. We caught a glimpse of who we truly are as people. Beyond any fame or fortune we may enjoy, there lies the essence of our humanness, a compassion that brought us together if only for a brief time. When we are vulnerable enough to show our true selves as these athletes did, we connect to each other in the way God calls us to… at every moment. It takes immense courage to be a super star athlete. But beneath all the bravado of a successful athletic career is a person. One just like you or me. One who possesses the same human qualities, emotions we all do.

While the Olympics were powerful unto themselves, the reactions of the athletes. Those who won a medal as well as those who did not. All stole the show. Captured the distinction between winning a medal and winning a $. It’s experiences like this that should give us all confidence that despite our flaws, we are still God’s children. Commanded to truly be ourselves as we strive to love one another.

Huge thanks to the spectacular Paris Olympics. And to all the athletes from around the world. Who showed us what it means to be true a true. Gifting us with the emotion filled performances we will remember always.