To The Limit

The Olympics are in full swing and I am loving it. The Winter games only roll around once every four years so I get a little excited when it comes time to watch events like bobsledding, the skeleton, snowboard cross, and...yes...even curling.

Last night was the much anticipated women's downhill where USA skier Lindsey Vonn took home the gold. What a phenomenal skier! Even with a couple of mistakes and rough patches, she hits the turns with such amazing speed that she still posted the best time and stood atop the podium to receive the gold medal.

One of her best friends is the German skier, Maria Riesch, who was the final skier to run that could beat Lindsey's time. Unfortunately, the two skiers before Maria took brutal falls that (praise God) they were able to walk away from. Since Maria is the only person to have beaten Vonn in the World Cup there was much anticipation going into her run.

However...something interesting happened. Riesch skied very conservatively. She stood up tall on her skies rather than crouching low for maximum speed through the turns. She seemed hesitant. She seemed reserved. It seemed like she wanted nothing to do with contesting Vonn's speed.

I thought long and hard about the two runs. Riesch's run was much safer than Vonn's...but Vonn got the prize. Vonn took her run to the limit, testing the edge as well as her already injured right shin. She ran the race with courage, with determination, and without fear.

Sometimes the race that we run (our Christian journey) is much like taking a run at the downhill. It is scary. It is frightening. And sometimes, we have seen too many people before us take some nasty spills. I just hope that along the way...I find the courage to run the race on the edge and without fear. To run for the prize that has been laid up for me.