The Flip Turn of Repentance

The Flip Turn of Repentance:   In the summer of 2004 the summer Olympics were being held in Athens, Greece. Being a big fan of athletics I ate up the weeks of competition as I enjoyed every event. The ideas of your country vs. the world concept really gets me pumped up every four years! This particular year I really fell in love with swimming. I'm not sure if this was because I had just moved to Arizona and now swimming was a daily occurrence in my life, or if it was because of the hype surrounding swimmer Michael Phelps. Phelps was seeking to break Mark Spitz's record for the most gold medals in an Olympic games by a swimmer and this excited  me every night as I watched him chase after this feat. I quickly became hooked to the sport and a few months later as I entered high school I decided to give competitive swimming a try.

    As I continued to swim and be coached I learned one of the key components to getting faster and improving my race times was having a good flip turn. As a swimmer you are swimming as fast as you can headed straight for the wall. In order to maintain your speed into the next lap as you come into the wall you flip end-over-end causing your feet to flip up and over and into place to push off the wall and start your next lap. Those who can master this can really improve their race times because they are no longer wasting precious seconds starting the next lap.
    In a way we are swimming down the swim lane of life. There are times we will make a mistake in life contrary to what God has commanded us to do. This is called sin and can be compared to the wall in a swim lane because it stops our progression. As we continue to head for this wall we have two options, crash into the wall of sin and get hurt spiritually, and often physically, or use the gift of flip turn of repentance. It is up to us to chose our course but God has given us a Savior, Jesus Christ, to help us get past that wall of sin and onto the next part of the race of life.



Ezekiel 18:30 says we need to "(flip) turn ourselves from all our transgressions" In the Book of Mormon Ammon teaches us "if ye will (flip) turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with all diligence of mind, if ye do this, he will, according to his own will and pleasure, deliver you out of bondage." Also Alma teaches us to "(flip) turn to the Lord with all your mind, might, and strength" As we use the flip turn of repentance with all our mind, might, and strength we won't crash into the wall of sin. We will be able to quickly overcome it, push off of it, away from it, and move back down the swim lane of life. I know this is a key part of swimming and our lives. It's my prayer that we will use the Atonement of Jesus Christ and repent to become a true gold medalist in the sight of God. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
            To learn more about repentance visit http://mormon.org/jesus-christ/#repentance