today's snippet is a little long, but if you are a runner, you will likely enjoy it.
A Slice of Infinity Snippets:
“Catherine Ndereba knew the gold medal was hers.”(1) So opens an article in Kenya’s national newspaper on the Beijing Olympics’ women’s marathon. Having missed it by only 12 seconds in 2004, Ndereba set her sights on winning Kenya’s first gold medal for a woman.
Though perhaps not a familiar name outside of the sport, Catherine Ndereba is one of the most accomplished runners ever. She has won the Boston Marathon a record four times and Chicago twice. In 2001 she shattered the women’s world best time by almost a minute, even after running the last fifteen miles mostly by herself. And so as I watched American record holder and 2004 Olympic medalist Deena Kastor hobble off the course with a broken foot at mile 3, I questioned who might challenge Ndereba. Once again she was running with characteristic ease at the back of the large lead pack--her typical strategy--covering each mile with her seemingly effortless stride. Yet as the race wore on and I saw her gesture to her teammates to pick up the pace, I wondered aloud when she might do the same. But she seemed relaxed and unworried, her vision for gold and not record time pulling her closer toward the amazing Bird’s Nest stadium where she would run the final lap and a half around the track before a wildly enthusiastic crowd.
Vision. An oft-quoted definition says it “a clear mental image of a preferable future imparted by God to His chosen servants.”(2) It was a vision of God’s glory and his sovereign hand upon the future that spurred on Ezekiel, Daniel, and Isaiah. Yet such vision not only afforded them hope for the years to come but also much-needed perspective and encouragement in their immediate situation. In fact, when John received the most extensive visions since recorded in Scripture, he was in exile and his fellow Christians were suffering under intense persecution. God’s very first words to him are, “I am the Alpha and Omega... who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” (Rev. 1:8; see also 21:6). The One who is the beginning and the end is Almighty, literally “the one who has his hand on everything.” So John is offered double vision, if you will, of God’s compassionate and steadfast hand from the first to the last. Likewise, throughout the book of Isaiah the prophet held fast to this vision of God’s continual faithfulness, whereas Ahaz, seeing only his immediate crisis, resisted God’s promised sign and so witnessed neither present comfort nor future hope (see Isaiah 7).
Running on a trail recently I thought of how critical this perspective of vision is. That is, if you look too far ahead you soon find yourself tripping on what is right at your feet, but if you look only at your feet you may find the trail abruptly ending into a steep ravine or fallen tree. You need double vision--a sense of both the immediate and distant--in order to maneuver such terrain.
Perhaps Catherine Ndereba was having similar thoughts after the marathon. The Kenyan newspaper article continues, “The four times Boston Marathon winner knew that she was ahead of the pack but suffered a rude shock when she saw Romanian Constantina Tomescu headed for the National Olympic Stadium to steal the Olympic marathon gold medal with Ndereba having to contend with the silver, Kenya's first medal at these Games.”(3) Unknown to Ndereba until the final turn into the stadium but evident to scores of television viewers and spectators on the course, Tomescu had broken away at a water station several miles earlier and continued to increase her lead.
Ndereba commented after, “I didn't see her breaking away... and, after all, I normally run my own race and I don't look at other athletes, even Tomescu knows that.... I thought I was in the lead and only when we got to the stadium I saw her and was a bit surprised but it was too late to do anything. If I'd seen her earlier, definitely I would have pushed."
I thought of her loss: here was a world champion and Olympian medalist with attainable gold but somehow her eyes--and not her legs or lungs--had failed her. Or so it seemed. Instead, Ndereba expressed elation for her second place finish and said, “My strategy was to start strong and finish strong because God says He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.” Though not looking far ahead, like the faithful prophets of old she had a wider perspective and praise to the One who has his hand on everything. Vision minded, she looked disappointment and disbelief in the face, remarked, “No man can do what the Lord has done for me,” and broke into a gospel song, mahali nimefika nimeona mkono wako (“Where I have reached, I have seen your hand”).
