The Road To Victory

Wilma didn't get much of a head start in life. A bout with polio left her left leg crooked and her foot twisted inward so she had to wear leg braces. After seven years of painful therapy, she could walk without her braces. At age 12 Wilma tried out for a girls basketball team, but didn't make it. Determined, she practiced with a girlfriend and two boys every day. The next year she made the team. When a college track coach saw her during a game, he talked her into letting him train her as a runner. By age 14 she had outrun the fastest sprinters in the U.S. In 1956 Wilma made the U.S. Olympic team, but showed poorly. That bitter disappointment motivated her to work harder for the 1960 Olympics in Rome--and there Wilma Rudolph won three gold medals, the most a woman had ever won (Today In The Word, Moody Bible Institute, Jan. 1992, p. 10).

Victory is not just for the strongest, smartest, or most talented.  Often, it is reserved for those who persistently pursue their goals, even in the midst of struggles and disappointments.  People who increase their strength through bearing heavy burdens.  People who become smarter through learning from their mistakes.  People who develop their abilities through sheer repetition.

People like Joseph.  He didn’t become second-in-command in Egypt and rescuer of his extended family the easy way.  The road to success for Joseph ran through death-threats, a dark hole in the ground, and being sold by his own brothers into slavery.  His path to victory was detoured through the fires of temptation and an undeserved stint in prison.  He endured the potholes of disappointment over being forgotten by those whom he helped.  But through it all, Joseph kept running toward the goal.  And, ultimately, he was victorious.

Let’s “...lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus...” (Hebrews 12:1-2).

God loves you!

Mike