Olympic Beach Volleyball / As A Man Thinketh…

“Sow a thought, reap an act,
Sow an act, reap a habit,
Sow a habit, reap a character,
Sow a character, reap an eternal destiny”

Like many of you, I was enthralled by the Olympic competition these past two weeks.  Thanks to the modern marvel of DVR’s recording 6 channels, I have watched more goals, dives, races, scores, matches, games and highlights  than ever before. (It’s amazing how many events we watched by skipping the ads and fluff, sorry NBC).

One of my favorite athletes to watch this year was beach volleyball player Jacob "Jake" Spiker Gibb. Jake is a member of my faith, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was born and raised one of eleven children in Bountiful, Utah.  Believe it or not, his given middle name “Spiker” had nothing to do with volleyball, it is simply his mothers maiden name.  Gibb did not even play volleyball in high school or college. In fact, he did not play sports competitively and was even cut from his high school’s basketball team.  

He attended the University of Utah, interrupting his studies for two years to serve as a missionary in Costa Rica. It was only upon his return to college at the age of 21 that he took up the sport of beach volleyball with his twin brother. He married his sweetheart Jane and graduated in 2002 with a degree in business.  It was then that he made an unexpected and bold decision. 

Jake told a reporter from a local newspaper that he was going to be an Olympian some day- in beach volleyball no less.  Wait a minute, this seemed more than courageous, some thought it was downright stupid if not at least irresponsible.  He had never played high school or collegiate sports, lived 800 miles from the beach and had a new family to support.  Beach volleyball? 

After convincing his wife of his passion he promised her that if he was not rated in the top twenty players in the world within two years, he would quit and put his Olympic dreams to rest.  Jane showed incredible faith and trust in her husband’s commitment, so with $1,600 in their pockets, Gibb and his wife moved to the beaches of southern California. 

Because he had no reputation on the beach, coupled with the fact that he was from Utah, he had to work hard to get anyone to even give him a chance to play, let alone earn respect.  Even his current Olympic partner Sean Rosenthall admitted that he never wanted to play with a guy from Utah. That was until playing against him, Gibb started blocking Rosenthall’s hardest spikes.

His church ties also made him perhaps an anomaly in the play-hard-party-hard beach volleyball world. The fact that Jake doesn't drink or party after tournaments is not always understood by the other players but Gibb claims it is respected.

This incredible story of a young man with a dream, that started as a thought really, who added courage, determination and hard work soon found it paying off. After just 12 months in the sport, he was ranked in the top 30, and in 2005, Jake led the AVP (Association of Volleyball Professionals) in wins, prize money and points and was named MVP of the tour. 

His outlandish goal to be an Olympian came true as he represented the US in the 2008 Beijing games.  Finishing 5^th, he set his goals to play again in these London games.  However, during a random drug test associated with a match in 2010, he was diagnosed with cancer.  Surgery was successful, so much so that the expected chemo and radiation treatments to follow were cancelled

"Going through cancer and having my wife pregnant and giving birth while I was on tour, pursuing this Olympic dream, it felt like a heavy load on my shoulders. It was a very tough year," Gibb said. "I realized what matters most to me, and that's health and family."

Jake Gibb’s story reminds me of a favorite antidote I memorized my freshman year in college.  It has impressed upon me the powerful connection between our thoughts and actions. It was penned by William Makepeace Thackeray but often quoted by David O McKay;

“Sow a thought, reap an act,
Sow an act, reap a habit,
Sow a habit, reap a character,
Sow a character, reap an eternal destiny”

Jake Gibb is an incredible example of how a thought to be an Olympian led to acts (training, practice and skills). These coupled with drive and determination developed into habits that are shared by only the worlds most talented and elite athletes.

In my own small and admittedly less heroic way, I reaped the benefits of following this same simple lesson of sowing thoughts in the mission field.  As a young missionary I arrived in my assigned Spanish speaking Philadelphia with and eagerness to succeed that was almost as large as my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  However, it soon became clear that although those two characteristics might have qualified me for the calling, it was going to take a lot more to actually become a successful tool in God’s hands to bring about much good on the “mean streets” of the ghettos.  I quickly recognized the huge gap between my inexperienced efforts and those of the older, more seasoned missionaries who had proven to be effective disciples. 

It became clear that to become a good missionary, I needed to think and act like a good missionary.  I began studying what they studied, I listened how they prayed, I watched how they carried themselves and I tired to do all they were doing.  Acting like a good missionary soon became more than an act, I developed habits that lead to success and I would like to think that in my own way, I became closer to the disciple Christ and His church expected of me. 

I have also taught my children and the youth in my stewardship's, that sadly, this same law of reaping what we sow accompanies our negative and bad thoughts as well as the good and positive ones.  Sin is always a product of thoughts gone astray.  These bad thoughts lead inseparably  to temptation and disobedience, which in turn leads to harmful consequences. Gone unchecked and un-repented, these bad or evil habits can lead to a loss of character and even damning eternal consequences.  Our sinful actions are always preceded with sinfull thoughts.

David O McKay taught,

 “No principle of life was more constantly emphasized by the Great Teacher than the necessity of right thinking. To Him, the man was not what he appeared to be outwardly, nor what he professed to be by his words: what the man thought determined in all cases what the man was. No teacher emphasized more strongly than He the truth that ‘as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he’ [Prov. 23:7]. … Contentment, complacency, peace—all that makes life worth living—have their source in the mind of the individual. From the same source spring unrest, turbulence, misery—everything that leads to dissolution and death. … It is well for [every teacher and officer in the Church] to pause frequently and take stock of himself to ascertain ‘what he is thinking about when he doesn’t have to think,’ for ‘what he thinketh in his heart, so is he’