2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:”
As I sit here watching the closing event of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, the Women's Marathon, my thoughts drifted back to the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. The Olympic runner that stands out in my mind did not win a medal, nor did he really have a chance to win, but his marathon run was historic and inspiring to all who watched unknown Tanzanian Marathoner, John Stephen Akhwari finish his race.
As the race was well under way he became entangled with another runner and fell, dislocating his knee and shoulder. After having his knee bandaged he refused to give up his opportunity to represent Tanzania in the Olympics. He labored on in immense pain to finish the Marathon. He continued the race, walking through most of it and jogging when he could. And completed the race, as the medals were being awarded. The crowd stood to their feet has he crossed the finish line. Many journalists mobbed him with questions regarding his show. All he had to say was simply, “My country did not send me 5000 miles just to start the race. They sent me to finish the race.”
As we stop and consider the dedication and tenacity of Akhwari, let us learn from his willingness to continue on in spite of the trials he had to face. In 2 Timothy 4:7 Paul records his thoughts about his final days and hours of his life when he writes, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” Our Lord did not send us into the world to reach the lost only to throw in the towel when the race gets hard and the pain is unbearable. Like John Stephen Akhwari we must not quit. Our Lord did not commission us to run the race of life only as long as it was easy. Like the Apostle Paul, let us say, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” Life may be like 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 in that “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.” Remember three promises founded here: we may be troubled, but do not have to be distressed; perplexed but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed. Jesus is always there. In every set back, He picks us up and sets our feet on solid rock. As Akhwari kept the faith to Tanzania, let us keep the faith of our God.
