Al Oerter

From time to time I think about my life and specifically, what will be said about me when I am gone. Because I am a whiner and a baby, the first thought I usually have is that on my tombstone I want it to say, "I told you I was sick."

I don't think about it a lot, so it's not some grizzly kind of thing, but more of a way that I think about the priorities of life.

It struck me as I was relaxing and watching SportsCenter the other night. Scrolling across the bottom of the screen it said something like: "Al Oerter, four time Olympic gold medalist, dies at 71."

Now I don't follow much track and field, but at least I know Oerter's name and that he broke world records every year he won a gold medal in the discus at the Olympics in 1956,1960, 1964, and 1968. That's a pretty incredible thing. He and Carl Lewis are the only ones to have four gold medals from the same event. Unbelievable company.

But here is where it gave me pause. Winning an Olympic gold medal for most anyone who follows athletics is an unbelievable and incredible thing. And this man wins four times in a row. And at the end of his life, the only thing he gets is a few words at the bottom of the TV screen.

Now, I didn't know Al Oerter. He may have been the most wonderful man in the world or a complete skunk. I have no clue. But it has made me think for the last number of days, "For what is my life counting?" Not that a gold medal is a bad thing. It's not. And four is even better. But at the end of it, I really hope my life, my investment in people, and service to Jesus makes a bigger difference than just words phrase scrolling across the bottom of a TV screen.