The Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi, India in September has only just gone, not four months back. These Games events seem to be just around the corner – again and again and again.
So now its our turn to focus our attention on London 2012.
The first thing we can say about any Olympic Games is that although sports features prominently, in reality the Olympics is no longer simply a sporting event.
The Olympics is where people come together
The Olympics is a place where peoples of all nations come together, eat together, talk together, establish friendships that last a life time, build international bonds that are of lasting value and sell a global image of coming together as people belonging to the human race.
The Olympics is where national leaders meet
The Olympics is also a place where national leaders meet together. There is no special meeting where leaders sit before the media in designer chairs with the world's media. Rather the Olympics is a bit like a State Funeral, where leaders meet privately, quietly and behind the scenes, where issues might be worked out quickly and without fanfare.
The Olympics is about big business
The Olympics is also about big business and making lots and lots of money. It hasn't really dawned on anyone much, due to the fanfare of an Olympic Games, that small businesses do not fare that well associated with Games sites. The fees are exorbitant, the trade is minimal, the competition fierce and many a small business loses out. But for the big players, the Olympics is a gold mine.
The Olympics is about sports
Then come the sports. The Olympic events. These are celebrated through the media and records are heralded, and this is the Olympic face as it should be. For the athletes of that generation, the Olympic event is remarkable, an experience never to be forgotten.
The Olympics is about Christian evangelism
Christians too have celebrated the Olympics for as an international event, it provides a mass opportunity to greet people with the Salvation message of Jesus Christ. This is done on the street with various displays and plays and music and preaching. It is done through church congregations opening their homes to international visitors, it is done everywhere in the Olympic city where Christians meet and greet people. It is an astonishing open door to witnessing Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
London 2012 will be no different.