The Father Who Wouldn't Let Him Fall

In the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, British sprinter Derek Redmond lined up for the 400-meter semifinal carrying the weight of years — four surgeries, endless rehabilitation, and an Olympic dream that injury had stolen from him in Seoul four years earlier. When the gun fired, Redmond exploded off the blocks. He was running the race of his life.

Then, midway through the backstretch, his hamstring snapped.

Redmond crumpled to the track, clutching his leg, his face twisted in agony. Medical staff rushed toward him with a stretcher, but he waved them off. He pulled himself up and began hopping toward the finish line, each step a battle against searing pain.

Then a large man pushed past security and onto the track. It was Jim Redmond, Derek's father. He wrapped his arm around his son's shoulders and whispered, "We're going to finish this together." Derek buried his face in his father's chest and sobbed as they walked the final hundred meters side by side. Sixty-five thousand people rose to their feet.

Healing rarely looks like the injury never happened. Derek still limped. The torn muscle still throbbed. But he was not alone, and he was not staying down.

That is the portrait Scripture paints of our Heavenly Father. The Lord does not always remove the wound, but He always enters the race beside us. "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted," the psalmist writes, "and saves those who are crushed in spirit." He meets us on the track where we have fallen, puts His arm around us, and says, "We will finish this together."