A Nation Brought Together By... Swimming?

Let me lay down the time and the place for you...

I was in Philly 2 nights ago at McFaddens celebrating a friends 21st birthday. Now you can imagine a place like that would be totally hopping at 11Pm. It was, don't get me wrong, but something was a little different. From time to time instead of everyone drinking at the bar, and dancing, and jamming out to the ear piercing music... they would come together for something different.

The Olympics are on this week, but not everything in the Olympics is getting the same attention.

Don't get me wrong, no one enjoys a good bad mitten championship like I do, but I think it is safe to say that swimming has taken the spotlight. Not only swimming, but it's USA HERO Michael Phelps. Everyone in the bar stopped and EVERYONE watched the TV. The DJ says, "Ladies and Gentleman, Michael Phelps!" and everyone in the bar would scream! They would chant and root him on for every race. It's the thing to talk about!

Some of my favorite facts to talk about:

He is 6'4" with a wingspan of 6'7"

He has oversize feet and hands acting as flippers.

He is double jointed in many locations to enhance movement.

And my favorite fact is that he is the only guy who can put down 11,000 Calories a DAY and still look anorexic.

Just last night I was at California Pizza Kitchen in King of Prussia when he had another record breaking night as he won by a finger TIP ... I thought I was the only one watching the screen as he started to race. But out of nowhere the quiet restaurant turned into a roar for some common cause.

There are two things I like about this whole thing...

1) It's the first time I've seen America come together for something since 911 when we all wanted to come together to bomb other countries.
To see people from all over the country be rooting for the same thing is a breath of fresh air in a time of such division. Phelps breaks the divide between black, white, old, young, poor and rich. To be in a restaurant, and hear people starting U-S-A chants, is a very cool feeling.

2) He is not perfect, but he let the gifts God gave him, take him to where he is.
I was watching an interview they had with Michael's sisters. The question was asked to the girls, "What do you think of your brother as an international sex symbol?" The girls laughed... hard... They had noted that it was their little brother! The kid who always annoyed them. The kid who has a very strong diagnosis of ADHD. But he was given certain qualities... like the ones I had mentioned before.

1 Corinthians 12:14-20 says:
14Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.

Right now, I'm really enjoying that Michael Phelps is a foot, and he's really trying to be a foot...