Find Your Greatness: Faith, Focus, Finish!

Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. 

Psalm 150:2

 

We’ll take to the track today ladies. First let’s watch Usain Bolt from Jamaica, aka “Lightning”. Coming into these games, Bolt was generally recognized as the “fastest person ever” and he did not let us down. By the end of the week he had achieved what is known as a “double triple”: golds in the same three events in both the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. His celebratory “To Di World” pose is being copied by young and old alike. Add to his resume’ Christian.

Then there is Sanya Richards-Ross, with two golds this year plus the two she already had. For all you Texans, Sanya graduated from Texas, trained with the Baylor Bears track team, and married a boy from John Tyler, Aaron Ross, who has just signed with the Jacksonille Jaguars. Sanya too is vocal in her faith.

But the story I like best has to do with Manteo Mitchell and his relay event. Have you ever run in a relay that counted for something ladies? I did, once. In high school I spent the whole day at a track and field meet, waiting to participate in the relay. And when it came time to run, I dropped the baton. Talk about letting down the team.

This year, Manteo Mitchell made history by running with the U.S. relay team to qualify for the finals, on a broken leg. At about the half-way point of his lap, he felt it snap: “It hurt so bad but I didn’t want to let those three guys down.” So on he ran, successfully passing the baton to the next in line. An x-ray confirmed he had broken his left fibula. When asked how he did it, he said all he could think was Faith, Focus, Finish!    

While Manteo Mitchell may never be the fastest person ever, his faith has earned him more greatness in God’s eyes than perhaps even Usain Bolt. It was God Who gave him the strength to hand off the baton. It is God Who deserves the praise. Let everything that has breath praise the LORD (Psalm 150:6).

Nancy P