Last week, I emphasized the importance of matching your faith in Almighty God with an equally steadfast belief in yourself. An Ephesians 3:20 faith stipulates that God accomplishes the unimaginable according to His power that works in us. We believe that God’s spirit empowers us to achieve previously unthinkable feats. A participant and observer in the Boston Marathon recalls a moment in sport’s history that meticulously and brilliantly illustrates the necessity of believing in yourself in order to attain your heartfelt dreams and goals. This runner reaches the infamous “Mile 19” of the race. A particularly steep hill functions as a natural and detrimental hurdle. Many runners drop out of the race during the nineteenth mile. Its sharp and foreboding incline sharpens a runner’s cumulative chest pain; shreds any loose shin splits; tightens any cramps and lessens the air. The faint of heart will submit to the nineteenth mile. Basically, it determines who genuinely possesses the will to finish the race.
As the runner reaches deep within himself to find the resolve to defeat the nineteenth mile, out of his peripheral view glances a paraplegic who is running the race in a chair. The man is rolling the wheels of his chair with all his might. The runner imagines that his fellow marathon participant’s well-defined and muscular arms are burning fiercely. Sweating drips like a fountain from his face which reflects an intense scowl of determination. Yet, as the hill steepens, the chair begins to recede as the strength of the runner does not exceed the force of the incline. Regrettably, the man in the chair starts rolling backwards. Other runners are considerate and move out of the way avoiding an accident. Then, the most amazing moment occurs for everyone watching. The man in the chair yields to rolling backwards until he reaches nearly halfway. He then turns his back to the incline and begins to push the wheels with all his might. Hurling himself in the opposite direction with all of his might, this man in the chair defies the odds, surmounts the inconceivable and defeats “Mile 19” to the spontaneous ovation of the narrator of this story and a wildly cheering crowd. Undoubtedly, the paraplegic believed in himself and his abilities to finish the Boston Marathon.
Although faced with formidable challenges, the runner in the chair refuses to accept anything less than completion of the race. He does not give in or up. He responds to adversity by changing his approach to the task. This new strategy does not decrease the effort he must demonstrate to succeed. It probably consumes more time. In the final analysis, the paraplegic exhibits an inimitable work ethic and willpower. His belief in his capability to finish the race encourages us to strive for our goals and dreams in accordance with the will of God. The man’s actions paint an indelible picture of what it concretely and daily means to believe in one’s capacity to succeed at any task that one undertakes. The late Professor Randy Pausch, author of The Last Lecture and a member of the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA, suggests that “brick walls” appear in our lives to assist us in determining whether really want what we say that we do. Our attempts to surmount “brick walls” show the extent of our belief in our resolve to win. If we abandon a project after encountering one “brick wall,” then it may stand to reason that our commitment to that goal was limited from the beginning. In contrast, if multiple “brick walls” serve to empower us in refining our techniques enroute to success, then we know that we truly intend to be victorious.
Henry Wordsworth Longfellow’s “Ladder of St. Augustine” offers a very practical method for demonstrating self-belief. “The heights of great men, attained and kept; were not obtained in sudden flight; but they, while their companions slept; toiled upward in the night.” The daily willingness to toil towards one’s dreams and goals demonstrate the most obvious belief in one’s abilities to succeed.
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