Taken from the writings of Michael Ross-Watson, this piece shows us the importance of having a god-given vision.
Bible reading: Acts 26:1-32
Paul said, “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision” [Acts 26:19]. What is your vision?
Wilma Rudolph was a remarkable woman. When she was six months old she was stricken with polio. She would never walk without metal calipers on her legs. Her older sister was a great basketball player who would go on to represent the USA. As the younger sister, Wilma attended her sister’s basketball meets. She herself longed to be a sportswoman. At the age of seven Wilma asked her sister’s coach to help her be a sportswoman. Each time she asked the coach he looked at Wilma’s legs and turned away in embarrassment. Finally she challenged him by saying that if he would give her fifteen minutes of his time every day, then she would give him her first Olympic gold medal. He was amazed at her tenacity and agreed to her request. It wasn’t long before fifteen minutes became a full time commitment. At the age of eleven Wilma took off the metal calipers from her legs and walked unaided but very unsteadily for the first time. At the age of fifteen she ran her first one hundred meters race. She came last, sixty meters behind the winner. In 1960, at the age of twenty-two, Wilma Rudolph was selected to run in the American Olympic trials. She was chosen to run in the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. She won gold medals in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 4×100 meters relay, breaking the world record in each event.
Wilma delighted to show people an old black and white video. There she was on the podium receiving her 100 meters gold medal. At the end of the national anthem she ran across the stadium to her coach, took of her gold medal, and put it round her coach’s neck and said, “I promised you this fifteen years ago and today I have kept my promise!”
Asking Wilma what motivated her, she responded by saying, “I had a vision!”
Paul spoke of his journey in terms of a race. At the end of his life he wrote to Timothy, “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race; I have kept the faith [2 Timothy 4:7]. He wrote about running to obtain the prize and being self-controlled so that he might win the heavenly prize [1 Corinthians 9:24-27].
Questions to think about:
- What vision has God given to you, that has become your passion, and that will bring eternal rewards?
- There is an old hymn that says, “Give to me a vision, reaching to Your throne; Let me see life’s problems in Your light alone.” How do the every day issues of your life relate to eternity?
