The Fastest Mile

Have you ever wondered if there are limits to what you can do? 

I was thinking about that this morning as I was contemplating what it would look like to go deeper with God; and if there are limits to that possibility.

As I pondered that thought, God brought to my memory the story about the fastest mile.

During World War II, racing was curtailed in combatant countries.  However after the war, two rivals, John Landy of Australia and Roger Bannister from Britain vied to be the first person to break what was considered to be the fabled four-minute mile barrier.

On May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister broke the barrier and John Landy followed suit 46 days later.

It’s amazing to consider the determination of these two men to do something that had never before been done; something no one thought was possible.

I wonder if John Landy, although thrilled with his ability to break the four-minute mile, was disappointed in himself for not digging deep enough to go for it 46 days earlier.  It was AFTER Roger Bannister broke the record that John Landy realized his own potential.

I drove through the mountains for a long time this morning weighing all of this out in my own mind.  After all, as we have learned from both Landy and Bannister, the will to exceed possibility begins in the mind. 

In what was known as the “Race of the Century,” Landy ran his second sub-4 minute mile at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in British Columbia.  Landy raced against Bannister. The race was heard over the radio by 100 million people and seen on television by millions more.  On the final turn of the last lap, Landy looked over his left shoulder as Bannister passed him on the right to beat him. 

Even so, two years later at the 1956 Australian National Championships, during the Olympic Trials, Landy surprised everyone when he doubled back to check on a fellow runner whom he had clipped in the heel causing him to fall early in the third lap of the race.  The runner got back up to finish the race and somehow Landy was able to make up the deficit to win the race.

Although most of us may not break records and make history; we can certainly push through the boundaries of our own mind.

Can we trust God and break through the ceilings of what we have believed to be possible? Are we willing to risk safety to visit places of freedom that lie just beyond the borders of comfort?

I guess we could wait for someone else to go first; but our personal journey’s are not contingent upon nor competing with another’s journey. 

If you sense that God is calling you to step into something that no one, including yourself,  may have ever thought was possible-- go for it!

And  don’t break stride by looking over your shoulder.

I think John Landy would agree.

Stay the Course...

Sheila