Running on Borrowed Strength

In the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, British sprinter Derek Redmond lined up for the 400-meter semifinal. He had trained for years, endured multiple surgeries, and fought his way back to elite competition. This was his moment.

Then, halfway down the backstretch, his hamstring snapped. Redmond crumpled to the track, clutching his leg while sixty-five thousand spectators fell silent. Medical staff rushed toward him with a stretcher, but Redmond waved them off. He stood up and began hobbling toward the finish line, tears streaming down his face.

That is when the cameras caught something no one expected. A large man pushed past security and ran onto the track. It was Jim Redmond — Derek's father. He wrapped his arm around his son's shoulder and whispered, "We're going to finish this together." And they did. Step by agonizing step, father holding son, they crossed that finish line while the entire stadium rose to its feet.

Faith works like that. There come moments when our strength gives out — when the diagnosis arrives, when the marriage fractures, when grief pins us to the ground. We cannot finish on our own. But the God who Isaiah called El Shaddai, the Almighty, does not send a stretcher. He comes alongside us. "Even youths grow tired and weary," the prophet wrote, "but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength."

You do not have to finish in your own power. Your Father is already on the track.