Saturday, January 14, 2006
NEVER GIVE UP!
NEVER GIVE UP!
Author Unknown
Jan 14, 2006
This happened in the l0,000 meter race at the Olympics in Munich,
Germany. Entered in this race was a young man from Finland by the name
of Lasse Viren. Nobody expected him to even place in this race. He
wasn't listed among the top l5 runners in the world. He was literally
a nobody when it came to this distance. But he had trained for the
Olympics and committed himself to this grueling event.
Over 85,000 people were present in the stadium. The gun went off
signaling the start, and 75 men took off to run 25 laps, about 6 and
half miles. Lasse Viren took off with the pack for this greatest race
of a lifetime. It was his big chance! About two and a half laps into
the race, with elbows and legs flying, the man who was expected to win
was hit and thrown off the track. When he was hit he was knocked
unconscious. In his fall he also knocked Viren to the track, head over
heels. How would you like that? Ten years in training and then an
accident like that in the biggest race of your life.
Viren, however, jumped back up to his feet and with confidence began
running to catch up with the pack. The crowd sensed the drama unfolding
before them and was soon on its feet shouting encouragement. They could
not believe what they were seeing. Viren kept on running. He caught the
last man, and kept running until he caught up with and passed the
leaders in the pack to cross the finish line first to set a new Olympic
record in the 10,000 meter race!
Later, Lasse Viren was interviewed by the press and he told them he
found out that if he could be knocked down and win, nothing could beat
him!
I believe the reason he won was because of the shock of being knocked
down. It's like a shock treatment! Under the stress of the race and
the double tragedy of the fall, he used reserve energy that would have
been released in no other way. What does falling or failure do to you
or in you? Do you go down to stay or do you bounce back for another
try?
Someone once said, "Following the path of least resistance is what
makes people and rivers crooked. People seldom drift to success!" As
the psalmist says in Ps. 3l: 24, "Be strong and take heart, all you
who hope in the Lord."
PRAYER
"Lord, change my heart and fill me with your wisdom that I my love your
ways. Give me grace and courage to resist temptation and stubborn
willfulness that I may truly desire to do what is pleasing to you."
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deeply loved each other and this was apparent in the photographs. I introduced "Wait" by commenting that God planted a seed in the recent misty past of 1954 that grew into the glorious flower that we know as our beloved Ann. As gorgeous as the flowers were, clearly Ann was the most beautiful
flower that we could see. I noted that she and Dave had shared a love that is the essence of God Himself. I shared how I had received "Wait" from you and how I had sent it to Dave asking him to read it to Ann. I told them
that I felt this prayer was a direct communication from God intended for Ann, Dave, and her only sister, Meg. (It brought Dave and Meg great comfort
too!) Then I read "Wait" to the overflow crowd. There was not a dry eye in the place!
Later I learned that the picture of Ann on top of the rosewood box was taken on November 28th, only a few weeks before her death. She had been in tremendous pain yet you would never had guessed it in the picture. While
Ann was not Catholic, I do feel that she had a deep abiding faith in Jesus and that she was totally at peace with him. That is why she appears so beautiful in the picture!
Prayerfully yours,
a very little and fragile child of God,
john
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