I have never been so inspired in my life as I was the weekend of November 14th. I was at home having a lazy Sunday. Flipping through the channels on TV, I came across the Ironman competition being televised from Hawaii. It was amazing to see these athletes, men and women, push themselves to their absolute limits. The race begins with a 2 1/2 mile swim, then a 115 mile bike ride, finishing up with a 26.2 mile marathon. To complete this course is an incredible achievement. As I watched the athletes pass by, all of them were in top physical condition, but hidden in the crowd I noticed others, that at first seemed out of place.

A runner with only 1 leg, and then a man in a wheelchair. Then I saw a man swimming with a harness tied to a small inflatable raft. In this raft was another man, who obviously could not swim this race on his own power. Then this race began to get really interesting. Who were these men and what was going on? As the older of the two men climbed out of the water, he gently picked up the man in the raft and carried him to the next course, the 115 mile bike ride. It turns out the two men were father and son. The father is 59 years old, and his son is 37. The son has cerebral palsy and physically could not compete on his own.

So the two compete and challenge themselves as one. The race was won in just over 8 hours, to me first place did not count in this race. The Father and son team crossed the finish line in just over 16 hours, as they did I cried watching this man and his son rejoice in their achievement. We may not be running a race as challenging as the Ironman, but some times life is just as hard. We may not be physically challenged, but we may suffer from loneliness, depression, alcoholism or abuse.

It is then the Father gently pulls us out of the water we may be struggling in, and carries us to the next challenge. His arms are always open to catch us if we fall, his legs are there to carry us when we feel we can not walk. His love is there to fill our hearts to give us the strength to keep us going. When we cross the final “finish line” he will be waiting to embrace us. He may even carry us across that line. Christ is the TRUE Ironman, as his sacrifice will carry us all across the finish line.

If you’re interested, there is more information about: The most important event of all time and The most important Book of all time.

Contributed by Mike Minor Mminor1702@aol.com