You Can’t Do It Alone – And Other Olympic Lessons #UNITE

I peer my head around the corner to what my ten-year-old is watching, and I am hooked.

Racing cyclists, pumping with all of their might up steep pavement.

Then decline, surrounded by rain forest, news media, tough terrain, cobblestones, and eventually crosswinds and rain towards the finish line.

My eyes are stuck on the girl with red, white, and blue.

Dutch cyclist, Annemiek van Vleuten leading, but, Mara Abbott from America, a close second…

Two sole cyclist, both far in front of a pack of three bicyclers.

Then, near the end of the almost 150 mile cycling course, the leader, Vleuten hits a curb and flips up over her bars, onto her head.

She lie still, even as a second video camera passes.

She appears dead, completely lifeless. Both me and my daughter don’t say a word.

Mara Abbot now is the lone soldier, peddling furiously to the finish line, a huge lead in front of a pack of the distant three; Anna van der Breggen from Netherlands, and Emma Johansson and Elisa Longo Borghini from Sweden.

Not knowing anything about cycling, I cheer on Abbot, trusting she’ll take home the gold and the rest would be history.

The pack of three, get single file behind each other, rotating first positions, while letting one break the wind, while the other two follow.

It seemed so pointless, as Abbot, solely climbed and descended, working by herself for a seemingly heroic win, almost to the finish line.

Then, at the last time minute, a few football field’s from a long, exhausting, and dangerous race, the pack of three break out, giving it their everything.

Through the rain, this group of three darts for the ending, passing USA’s Abbott, to win gold, silver, and bronze at the finish line.

My heart sinks for Abbot.

She had fought hard nearly 150 miles of cycling, and yet just yards from grasping the gold, the pack of three passes her and she rolls in fourth, not winning one medal.

I sit on the couch stunned. Disappointed that when the finish line came, Abbot was exhausted and had nothing to give.

Emotions swirl around in my gut as I ask my daughter sitting next to me…

“What can we learn from that race?”

And I think about that race, how many of us stop short from getting the prize we long to take hold of, because we refuse to let others race beside us?

And I guess the lesson to us all is, we need people. No matter how smart, or talented, or capable, or determined we are…We cannot go it alone.

Helen Keller once said, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”

And I love the analogy of geese. They fly in a “V”, while making their yearly journey.

And yet, why is it we can think survival just means picking up the pieces, dealing quietly with our own personal situations in our individualist societies…

Hoping war-like grit and determination will get us to the finish line?

In 1992, Derek Redmond was a shoe-in for the finals at Barcelona Olympics. On his 400, he pop’s a hamstring and starts limping towards the finish line…

In a beautiful demonstration of love and compassion, Redmond’s Father then walks on the field and positions himself under the armpit of his son.

He carries his limping child to the finish line.

Stretchers try to tend Redmond’s injury, but Derek’s response? “No, there’s no way I’m getting on that stretcher. I’m going to finish my race.”

And I wonder how many of us have that kind of grit, that kind of resilience, that kind of persistence to know that regardless of our pace, nothing will stop His purposes from prevailing?

And do we know what we could accomplish if we knew and trusted, our Father has got us? Our arms resting from His loving embrace?

Yes, it’s not about our pace or how good we look competing….It’s all about finishing the race.

In my twenties I prided myself on determination, thinking it was valiant and even heroic to do this life alone…

I stuffed my problems and was careful and cautious to keep an arms distance from the other racers I knew.

But how that has changed.

This past week we experienced a very sad loss of a family member. And although first instinct was to pedal faster, push harder, brave the rain…

Even remembering how other foster parents had crashed and burned like Dutsh, Vleuten…

The phone calls started coming, texts, messages saying others were thinking of me.

They had seen our struggles, and knew of our triumphs. They loved our little girl nearly as much as we did…

And I knew that day, I was not anymore like my fellow American, Mara Abbot.

At that moment, I knew over the years I had learned to rely on others, letting trusted people get alongside me and “break my wind” during my race and hardships….

I now could coast on their comfort, trust their companionship, lean on the fellowship and relationship that would be valuable in weeks like this.

More so, I had a God who like Redmond’s Father didn’t let me stumble to the finish line alone. In our heartache, we have experienced…

God picks us up, like a loving Father, and carries us when we are weak. He doesn’t run away but draws near when all we can breath is a humble, “Lord, help me”. 

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 tells us: “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!

Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

The threefold cyclers won, gold, silver, and bronze, in the Women’s Cycling Event at the Rio Olympics, not because they were stronger, or better, but because they refused to race independent, solely, and self-reliant.

And I wonder if in America we can learn from these three medalist?

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to wait until a crisis to see if anyone is standing beside me.

I don’t want to end up on the side of the curb, when the finish line is just a few yards away.

We were made to finish, made to do fellowship, made to race with our Loving Father’s arms wrapped tightly around us.

Who can you intentionally pursue deep, transparent, honest type of fellowship with today, so you can finish this race…

This brave and courageous race He has called you to?

“We were born to UNITE with our fellow men, and to join in community with the human race.” ~ Cicero

UNITE LINK PARTY

It is time to link up your post. You don’t have to be some amazing blogger, we are not a club or some elite society.

UNITE is a place for everyone to come and add what might encourage another. This is how it works: