I enjoy sports. I enjoy most all sports so when the Olympics roll around, I usually watch. I like the summer games best but also enjoy the winter ones which are going on now. I like the backstories almost more than the actual events.
Recently snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis won the first gold medal for the USA at the Beijing Winter Olympics. I watched her race, and it was great, but Lindsey’s backstory is even greater. Her snowboard cross win and her personal first Olympic gold medal came at the age of 36 years, in her fifth Olympic appearance.
Lindsey first appeared in the 2006 Winter games, and despite a brutal fall, claimed a silver medal. Following that auspicious start, she came in fifth in 2010, seventh in 2014, and fourth in 2018.
“It doesn’t define you,” she said when asked what message she’d send to younger racers about mistakes of the past. “Especially if you’ve made it to this stage, you’re a winner. And look at what you’ve learned from the experience and take that with you later in life.”
Mistakes do not define you. Failures do not define you. Jesus defines you. So run like a winner because you are!
Hebrews 12:1: Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance [perseverance] the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith. [HCSB]
