Miracle on the Mat –By:
Pastor Mark Kilcoyne
Do
you believe in miracles?
That was the question shouted in
awe by the sports announcer when the 1980
U.S. men’s hockey team defeated the
perennial champion Soviet Union team.
Every four years at the Olympics
there is that one story of triumph in the
face of the seemingly impossible to beat
opponent.
This year in Sydney we have had a
number of stunning upsets that nobody but
nobody expected.
First there was American Misty
Hyman who swam in the 200m butterfly. She, or anyone else for that matter, was not expected to beat
Australia’s,
Madame Butterfly, Susie O’Neil.
But Hyman won the race.
She didn’t allow herself to be
defeated before the race was over she swam
as if to win.
The next event that really stood
out to me was the women’s 10m-platform
diving.
The Chinese women are the perennial
favorites.
Laura Wilkinson who entered the
finals in the fifth position did not let
the Chinese juggernaut intimidate her.
She kept diving.
In the end, she pulled off one of
the great upsets in the Olympic games. She
won the first American gold medal in the
event in 36 years.
Probably my favorite upset had to
be in Greco-Roman wrestling. American heavyweight Rulon Gardner stunned Russia’s
Aleksandr Karelin, denying the nine-time
world champion his fourth consecutive
Olympic gold medal with a 1-0 overtime
victory.
Karelin had NEVER been beaten in
International competition. He has been
called the greatest wrestler ever, even
had a wrestling move named after him.
Karelin is a nine-time world
champion and his last defeat of any kind
was a 1-0 loss in the 1987 Soviet national
championships.
Gardner had wrestled against
Karelin one time.
"It
was back in '97 at the worlds, and I've
never been dominated like that,"
Gardner says of the 5-0 loss.
When I read the headlines I was
elated.
I love amateur wrestling.
I love the thrill of watching the
combatants match move against move.
It’s one-on-one grappling to see
who can outwit, outlast, and out-maneuver
his opponent.
Being the oldest sport in the
Olympics it is my favorite.
In the Bible, Paul tells us to run
the race to win it. (1 Cor. 9:24-27) He also encourages us to fight the good fight.
Even in the face of a seemingly
invincible opponent.
David knew that if God was with him
he could defeat the Philistine giant
Goliath.
Nobody, but nobody thought David
could do it – except God & David.
I don’t know whom your Goliaths
or Karelin’s or Madame Butterflies are
in your life.
It probably isn’t somebody, but
something.
Maybe you don’t have victory in
an area of your life.
Maybe it smoking, or not having
patience or maybe you lack commitment.
These may seem like giants, but
with God’s help you can win.
You can finish the race.
You can run it in such a way as to
win it.
Just don’t give up.
The prize in the end is worth the
fight.
As Rulon Gardner said of defeating
Aleksandr Karelin, “(but) I still had to
push.
I couldn’t relax one second of
that 9-minute period.
He’s so strong and so big.”
Even though it seems impossible you
can win the prize if you don’t give up. |
