Some say it’s the depth of the pool. Others say it’s the fit of the Speedo. But most would say these Olympics are a swimming success. World records are dropping like stock options in a Hummer factory. The swim is in! Pity those who didn’t make it into the gene pool. Some Olympians have spent a decade learning how to shoot a pistol at 10 meters and their crowds are second cousins who couldn’t get tickets to the swim finals.

So what drives the under-featured? Dedication. Devotion. Determination. For the pistol-packers, they know that hitting the target is just as important as hitting the big time. They know that the absence of applause doesn’t diminish the value of a cause. A steady aim and a stubborn heart may not put them on the front pages, but it will still put them in the record books. Fire away, aimer. Your vest of virtue is just as valuable as a garland of gold.

“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:6-7 NIV).