Volume 32

Kid McCoy was the welterweight boxing champ in 1896, largely because he learned every trick in the book — and a few that weren’t. One day while boxing an opponent who was completely deaf, the shrewd fighter twigged to the fact his opponent couldn’t hear the bell. So, early in the bout, he waited for just the right moment then stepped back, intimating the bell had rung to end the round. It hadn’t. When the deaf man lowered his gloves and turned away, McCoy knocked him out.

But nice guys don’t always finish last. At the 1908 Olympics, Englishman Forrest Smithson won gold in the hurdles event. What made the victory distinctive was the fact that Smithson had run the whole race with something in his hand — his Bible.

Twenty years later, Australian rowing champion Henry Pearce was leading in the finals of the Olympic sculling event when a mother duck and her babies crossed the river in front of him. He pulled up oars and waited for them to pass safely. He still won the gold.

That same confidence under pressure was seen in 1961 when race car driver Dan Gurney won a key event by driving the slowest. In Daytona, Florida, Gurney was way ahead of the pack in his Lotus, going into the last lap. Suddenly, his engine died, leaving him stranded just yards from the finish line. With the other cars closing in fast, he tried the ignition but the engine refused to turn over. Instead, the car lurched forward a a couple of feet and sputtered to a stop.Volume 32, No. 10

Thinking quickly, Gurney cranked the ignition again, sending the Lotus two feet closer to victory. Over and over, he cranked and lurched, cranked and lurched until he inched over the finish line, winning the race at one mile an hour, beating cars going 180 times faster.

Which brings us back to boxing. At the height of his fame, Muhammad Ali was on an airplane and didn’t want to do up his seat belt. “Superman don’t need no seat belt,” he told the flight attendant. She replied, “Superman don’t need no airplane.” He buckled up.

Each of those vignettes offers a spiritual lesson for life. Just like Kid McCoy, our doubt, fear and discouragement often lead us to believe it’s time to stop fighting when we’re going toe-to-toe with trouble. When we give up and lower our boxing gloves, adversity will lower the boom. Instead of putting our hands down, we need to lift our hands up, in praise and pleas for help to a God with both the love and power to make a crucial difference. Resist the sucker punch. Don’t give in, give up, or give out. Take your cues only from your Trainer, who’s always in your corner.

Next time you’ve got some hurdles to get over, consider each one a leap of faith. You won’t clear them by standing still, or by weighing yourself down with baggage from the past or the ball and chain of too many belongings. Take a lesson from Forrest Smithson and carry your Bible, not just in your hand, but in your heart. Get to know it, trust it, and use it. It’ll give you the lift you need.

In life, the prize isn’t Gold, it’s God. It’s the “l” that gets in the way: anything we add to him, to try and find meaning or significance. In other words, it’s our priorities that make all the difference in the race. Those who try to win at all costs pay too heavy a price, with their integrity and their eternity. Rather, we need to put first things first, pulling up our oars when the vulnerable cross our path. In the end, the prize will still be ours when we do the right thing.

That doesn’t mean it’ll be easy. After a great start, we’ll sometimes have to lurch to victory. Next time you’re stuck and going nowhere, just do what you can and trust God to get you where you need to be, no matter how painfully small the gains may seem. And remember, you’re not Superman. Use the spiritual protection that’ll keep you safe — the Word, the Spirit and the Church. Buckle up and buckle down. But don’t buckle.

By Rick Gamble. Published in Cross Current, the weekly newsletter of the followers of Christ congregation in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. Reprint at will in not-for-profit publications. To subscribe to this free weekly article, send a note to Rick at sgamble@bfree.on.ca