Eric Liddell

I recently finished reading a biography of Eric Liddell. I do actually read books without pictures, in case I was a little misleading earlier. He died so young and yet did so much in his life. Why? Because he was willing? Because God gifted him?
I ran cross country in high school. Although I was never very good, it kind of became this strange addiction. Not the type of addition where I actually do it -- I haven't run much since college. Just the addiction where I dream about winning, about training. The kind of addiction where I am interested in race times and think I could start training again, maybe enter a race. I could run, maybe even win, I just have to push myself even when it hurts. That must be what stops the dreaming -- the pain of actually running.
All that to say I found the stories of Eric Liddell's running career fascinating. One qualifying race for the Olympics, he was cut off and knocked down. Instead of giving up the race, he got back up and started running. Although he was 20m behind he caught up and won the race! He made it to the Olympics. Someone asked him what it felt like to achieve his dream. Instead of talking about the Olympics, the question sent Eric Liddell into reflection. His dream? China was his dream.
At the Olympics the first heat for the 100m race was on a Sunday. He chose not to enter that race even though that's the race he normally performed best. Scotland was upset. Their hero had let them down. Sometime before the race he was handed a piece of paper. He slipped it into his pocket without reading it. Later when he was alone he opened it and read the words from I Sam. 2:30 -- those who honor me, I will honor. He did not take it as a promise that God would give Him victory in the race, just that he had done the right thing by holding to what he believed was right.
As he entered the stadium, American flags were flying; he was not expected to win. He was positioned on the outside track. He knew his only hope of winning was cutting across to the inside lane. At the start amazingly he sprinted across and made it to the inside lane. I found it interesting that his coach, who was clocking him in the stands, was astonished by his speed for the first 200m. It seemed he would never be able to keep up the pace. But he kept going. He won the 400m race and a gold medal. When asked once how he did it, he replied, "I run as hard as I can for the first half, and then in the second half, with God's help, I run even harder."
He could have competed in the Olympic games again. But as I mentioned earlier, his dream was China. A year after the Olympics he left for China and served there until his death almost 20 years later. It was so interesting to read how God used his love for running and sports even in his missionary work with Chinese boys.
At one point he traveled with his family to North America. They made the journey safely even though this was during the war and one of the ships in their convoy was hit and I think sunk. Some might have been grateful to be in a country far away from the war, or even to think that God was protecting them, getting them safely to North America. But when he arrived, he saw his safety as a sign that God was keeping him alive to serve him, so instead of staying he went back to China.
Later, in China, it became more dangerous and he eventally sent his pregnant wife and two daughters to North America again, but he chose to stay. He continued to serve and was eventually imprisioned in an Japanese Internment Camp, where he died from a brain tumor. He never saw his third daughter on this earth.
I think of all he sacrificed. He gave up comfort, security, even family. He gave up running. I could say he gave up fame, but it would be hard for someone so popular to be forgotten; although he did choose not to live in the luxurious and self-exalting life that he could have had.
I am inspired and humbled by this man's life. He was an amazing runner, but a servant of Christ first of all. My life is so easy and so comfortable. What have I ever sacrificed for Christ? How have I left my comfort so someone could hear of God's love and saving power? Why do I seek approval instead of humbly casting it aside for complete surrender to God's desires?
O that I could say with the apostle Paul, "I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ."