I was listening to the radio a few weeks back as I drove home from hockey. 

The guy speaking was a physiotherapist, who works with some of the top athletes in North America.  Among his clients were several NFL stars, a past world record holder for the bench press (700+ pounds at that time), and Donovan Bailey.  Beyond being the therapist who worked with these athletes’ muscles, enabling them to push themselves to the limits, the speaker also served as something of an analyst.

He spoke at length of his work with Donovan Bailey.  They’d video Bailey running, and then they’d spend hours breaking it down frame by frame.  In the quest to absolutely maximize his performance, they’d look at every little piece of his stride: How’s the movement in his ankles? Knees?  Hips?  How’s the flow of his arm movements?  Angle of his back?  On and on and on…

Anything that wasn’t contributing to forward motion had to be changed.  If it was stealing any bit of thrust from the sprinting, it had to go.  That’s some intense scrutiny in the name of reaching full potential.

And I like it.

It got me to wondering what it would be like to “watch film” with Jesus himself.  What if we sat down to analyze my “stride”? 

What would he say about the way I process the world around me? 

What would he notice about the way I interact with others? 

What comment might he make regarding the impulses that pass through my mind and heart in a given day? 

What might he point out in the ways I respond to both positive and negative sensations?

What insights into the way I operate would he draw my attention to for the first time, all in the quest to better me?

As another year ends, I give thanks for the growth I’ve experienced and for the fact that I’m a better man now than I was 12 months ago.  That said, I can definitely see how much I’d learn in a film session with the Master.