A Liddell Passion

In the last few weeks I've found myself going back and watching a number of good movies about running.  One of the classic's that I just finished was Chariot's of Fire, the true story about Eric Liddell who won the Gold Medal in the 400 meter 1924 Olympics.  It begins with the familiar melody that we all are familiar with, immediately getting me inspired and I still had a full 2 hour movie in front of me. The movie is slow by today's standards.  Nothing blowing up, nothing scandalous, and not a single person gets killed.  Like I said, slow.  Yet in spite of this, my seven year old son, who see's me run, sidles up to me and gets lost in this movie along with me.  When we had to stop for dinner, he even grumbled about wanting to keep watching it.  We got back to the movie and eventually watched Eric Liddell give his amazing quote shortly before he wins his race.  The quote?  "when I run, I feel God's pleasure."  Wow.  And he does it in a scottish brogue making it even more dynamic. I was impressed with the story for many reasons.  As a runner I want to experience God's pleasure when I run.  But as a Christian, I want to be as passionate about giving god the glory as Eric Liddell.  He was a man who saw his great gift, running, as merely a tool to help bring attention to God's kingdom.  Not surprisingly he also said, "We are all missionaries. Wherever we go we either bring people nearer to Christ or we repel them from Christ." The credits at the end of the movie said that when Eric died in the mission field after World War II in China, all of Scotland mourned.  A great man, who had great passion for building God's kingdom, and who was eager to use his talents as a steward of God's gifts.  I couldn't help but think that if I was as eager to use my talents for God's glory, what would my legacy be?  As my son watched the movie with me, what is my legacy for him going to be?  It was a great moment to remember this was an opportunity to bring my son closer to Christ.  I asked him what he thought of Eric Liddell and told him how much I wanted to give God the glory for everything good I do. Then we raced each other around the house talking in a scottish accent.