Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam
Anybody ever see the movie "Chariots of Fire"?
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The reason I asked about the movie is because it tells about a young man, Erik Liddell, who was a Christian and was in the 1924 Olympics. He did not have a problem wearing shorts but when he found out his event was scheduled for a Sunday he would not participate because he felt like Sunday was the Lord's day. He was allowed to compete in another event and won a medal.
I found the following article somewhere several years ago. It gives a little more information on this young man's ministry and influence:
In every generation it is the same. Several years ago I enjoyed immensely
watching the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire. It tells the story, as you may
recall, of Eric Liddell, who won a gold medal in the 400 meters in the 1924 Paris
Olympic Games despite his refusal to run a race on Sunday. A year after Liddell
gave up fame and glory in his native Scotland to become a missionary in China.
For twenty years, first as a teacher and later as a rural evangelist, Eric Liddell
labored to bring the gospel to the people of China. During World War II Liddell
and many other western civilians living in China were interned in a prison camp
by the Japanese.
Langdon Gilkey was a young American teacher who was being held in the
same camp. In his book Shantung Compound, Gilkey relates how Eric Liddell
was the hero of every boy in the camp, and many adults as well. Tirelessly he
worked to lift people’s spirits, sharing his Christian faith and life, as much by his
unselfish actions as by his words of witness. In February 1945 Eric Liddell died
in that internment camp of a brain tumor. He was 43 years old.
Where was the God of Elijah then? Why no miraculous deliverance from
Shantung Compound? Where were the chariots of fire? Of course, they were there
all the time, as was the Lord. But an Elijah-type deliverance is the exception, not
the rule. In fact, it’s unique. It only happened once. After all, even Jesus only
ascended to heaven by way of the cross. It is for us to follow our Master in
serving right up to the end, not expecting to be delivered from death, but
confident that when our work is done we will be delivered through death into the
Lord’s presence.
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