Djibouti who persevered around the course taking 11 minutes where all the other competitors took less than four.
The huge crowd cheered and cheered him for seven long minutes while he completed the race. And there was the girl from Britain, much smaller than is normal for a 17-year-old, who received her gold medal from Prime Minister David Cameron. I was left wondering who had the greater honour; the girl receiving her medal from the PM or the PM having the privilege of conferring a medal on such a spirited young lady?
If anyone is still wondering why God “allows” disability to occur in people then these Olympics must have opened their eyes. The courage and single-mindedness of these disabled athletes is, to use a current word in circulation, awesome. Perhaps two in every 100 people in the world have some form of disability. They are our teachers.
I have often wondered at the saying in Isaiah, ‘I set my face like flint’ (50:7). Flint was the hardest known substance in the ancient world and our ancestors made axe heads of it. So the saying conveys the meaning of toughness and durability. It is used of the ‘servant’ in Isaiah who does not lose heart in the face of hardship and insults, persecution and even threats of death. It is used as a description of Jesus on his way to his passion on the Wednesday of Holy Week. It expresses the common English word, ‘determination’ and perhaps its Shona equivalent ‘kutsungarara.’
And it is a key quality needed if we are to achieve anything worthwhile. Jesus is scathing of Peter when the chief of the apostles tries to dissuade him from taking the tough route to his goal (Mark 8:32), ‘get behind me Satan! Because the way you think is not God’s way, but man’s.’ Peter enjoyed his friendship with Jesus but he wanted it to be a comfortable one and not cost him too much. As the Olympians show us that just doesn’t work. The saying on the back of kombis, ‘No sweat, no sweet’, is true.
Post published in: Opinions & Analysis