| 2 Timothy 4:7 – “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” |
In 2021, the Olympic Games took place in Tokyo, but not as they usually were.
The delayed games, held in Tokyo, lack many of what we have grown used to.
Crowds no longer filled the stadiums to cheer participants.
Masks were everywhere as COVID fears grew.
But it is the Olympic Games and, varying the old saying, “the games must go on.”
Races kept taking place, in spite of the lack of spectators.
The starter’s gun fires and runners lunge forward.
And the finish line marks the winner.
But not all finish the race together.
Japanese marathon runner Shizo Kanakuri completed the marathon trials and set a world record at the time. He seemed destined for the 1912 Stockholm Olympics.
But in the Olympic marathon, Kanakuri mysteriously disappeared from the race course.
His journey to Stockholm had taken five days through the Trans-Siberian railroad and then by ship.
Exhausted from the journey, he lost consciousness during the race and fell by the wayside. A local family found him and took him in.
Kanakuri was ashamed and refused to return to Japan. He was listed by Olympic officials as “missing.”
Fifty years later, they found that he had quietly returned to Japan and lived out his life.
So in 1967, Olympic officials offered Kanakuri the opportunity to finish his race.
He went to Stockholm and officially finished his race in 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 5 hours, 32 minutes, and 20.3 seconds, remarking, “It was a long trip. Along the way, I got married, had six children and 10 grandchildren.”
What makes the difference in the Christian life is that you run your race to the end.
It will take a lifetime, but finish.
Paul had watched games in places like Corinth and admired the runners.
At the end of his life, he spoke about its meaning. He told Timothy, “I have finished my race.”
He had lived the Christian life to the end.
No matter what, remember that Shizo Kanakuri finished his race. Keep it up and finish yours.
- Robert G. Taylor
robertgtaylor.com
