Press On

Are you ready to give up? You have faced obstacle, after obstacle, with no end in sight. Your legs are cramping up, breathing is difficult. Winning looks impossible, and finishing your race seems unlikely. You slow down, wipe your brow, and wipe your tears. It’s over. Or is it?

In the summer of 1972, Munich was hosting the Olympics. One race in particular stands out for the extraordinary win from an American named Dave Wottle. Eight men lined up for the 800 meter race and took off running, except Dave had a slow start and was lagging pretty far behind. He had been dealing with tendinitis in his knees which interfered with his training. Things were not looking good for Dave. He later admitted to some fear, and even thinking there was no way he was going to catch up to the other runners.

Something incredible happened in those two short laps where Dave Wottle started out way behind. He began to get closer and closer to the pack, eventually meeting the other runners, and then pressing on right past them. Dave just continued on and worked his way up to the leaders of the pack and at the last second, Dave was the first to cross the finish line. Amazing!! Dave Wottle won the gold medal that day.

Dave’s hard work, determination, and training paid off. He pressed on in spite of how bad his race looked, and he won. What if he would have given up? We would not be talking about him right now, and he would be quickly forgotten. What a fantastic example to us, to keep going in our race in life.

Life is hard. Each of us has a race to run. As Christians we are not running our race alone. We’ve got Holy Spirit power. That doesn’t mean our race is any easier, it just means we’ve got supernatural help to pick us up when we fall. To strengthen, protect, empower, and encourage us when we just can’t take another step. We’ve got Jesus, and Father God leading and guiding us, helping us, and providing for our every need, and giving us purpose.

We don’t run our race to win a trophy, or get some sort of fame. We run the race set before us with confidence in our Lord. We don’t let our past mistakes hold us back, we keep focused on what is ahead, knowing we are forgiven through Jesus’ precious blood. We are heavenbound, and that is our prize.

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14, NIV

Press on, brothers and sisters.

Love you all,

Meghan

Check out Dave’s unbelievable win.

Photo credit: Meghan E. White