One Leg and a Salute

In the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, the American women's gymnastics team stood on the edge of history. No U.S. women's team had ever won team gold. But when Kerri Strug landed her first vault attempt, she heard a sickening pop in her left ankle — a third-degree lateral sprain. She crumpled to the mat. The scoreboard told the story: one vault remained, and the gold medal hung on it.

Coach Bela Karolyi leaned in and said, "Kerri, you can do it." Eighteen years old, barely able to stand, she sprinted down the runway on an ankle that screamed with every step. She hit the vault, flew through the air, and stuck the landing on both feet — then immediately lifted her injured leg, balanced on one foot, and saluted the judges before collapsing in pain. The gold was theirs.

Courage is not the absence of pain. It is the decision to run toward what matters most even when everything in your body begs you to stop.

The apostle Paul knew this. "I press on toward the goal," he wrote from a body covered in scars, shipwrecked and beaten, pressing forward still (Philippians 3:14). The Almighty does not promise us a life without pain. He promises us something worth running toward. And sometimes the most courageous thing you will ever do is take one more step on a broken ankle — because the calling of God is worth the cost.