Never give up! - 2

Guest blogger: Sven Ljungholm. Meet Sven Ljungholm in a series of articles. Sven was leading an air company many years before he became a Salvation Army officer. He served in USA, Sweden and as one of the pioneers when the Salvation Army restarted its work in Eastern Europe.

I just took a short break during grading student’s final essays to watch interviews with winners and, well there are no losers in the ‘special Olympics´. What struck me is their universal determination to complete their mission; press on to finish the race. As I listened I was struck time and again by the words, "complete", "finish", and "victory".

My mind went to a competition in which I had great interest, the annual New York City Marathon, one held back in the 1970s to be exact.

Finnair was the official sponsor, and I was the airline’s Regional Manager USA. The organizers of the marathon and I met many times over a period of two years, to coordinate all the details of the event. The final number of runners exceeded 20,000, and there were many highlights that these many years later live in my memory.

The Finish line (spelled Finnish for that particular race due Finland’s national airline being the major sponsor) was in Central Park. Thousands of New Yorkers lined the 26-mile marathon route cheering the runners,

With a good number of them crowding the sidewalk along Central Park West, about 25 miles into the race, which borders the park. Thousands more were waiting inside the park itself. As you can imagine, there was great excitement among the throng of people as the first runner made his entry into the park nearing the finish line. The roar was deafening, camera shutters clicked, TV crews jostled for a better angle, and the Mayor of New York was escorted to the dais ready to crown the victor.

As the winner neared the tape I could read the number pinned to the front of his shirt, and I quickly scanned the program to see who he might be; others did the same. Then there was an audible gasp; the winner was a total “unknown”… He broke the tape, slowed, and made his way to the dais, and there, in front of thousands watching live, and millions by TV, the Mayor placed the victor’s crown on his head. The victor was ecstatic as the crowd roared its praise for this hitherto unknown marathoner. Soon other runners crossed the line, but the roar of the crowd was now less frantic....

It was less than 5 minutes later that a buzz stirred in the official’s tent. There was something amiss. Then the loud speakers announcement came; “THE WINNER IS DISQUALIFIED! HE DIDN’T PASS ALL THE CHECK-POINTS”! All along the marathon route were stationed check-points, and there the marathon officials were placed to monitor and make certain that each and every runner had completed each stage of the race. Well, it turns out the "winner", shortly after beginning the race had dropped out, donned a trench coat handed to him by a friend, went to the nearest subway station and boarded the uptown train and stepped off near Central Park. There he waited until the advance runners were in sight, discarded the trench coat, and then set off running again, and came in “first”.

It was in the evening, some 12 years later and my wife and I were now serving as Salvation Army officers in mid-town Manhattan that I went out for ice cream with my children on 2nd avenue. The children were aged 10, 12, 14, and 16. Our corps, which is also where we lived, had served as an unofficial rest station for Salvationists and others as the building was approximately half way through the course. As we exited the candy shop we saw some distance away, a legless man, with some sort of rubber devices strapped to his knuckles, slowly and painstakingly making his way north on the side walk, on the stubs that were his "legs". That in itself was rather strange, but more so was the fact that he was wearing an official NY Marathon contestant’s number on his sweatshirt.

As he was about to pass us I asked the man if I could speak with him for just a moment, introducing myself as a former chief spokesperson for the official sponsor of the NY Marathon. We chatted for a few moments and I learned that he had flown in from California to compete. I then asked him rather sheepishly, how far did you manage to “run”? I assumed he had made it several hundred yards at least. Without hesitation he replied, “Well, I’m still running, and I figure I’ll cross the line tomorrow afternoon sometime, assuming we don’t chat for too long”! We both laughed and off he went…

Immediately on my return to the quarters I contacted the local and national media to alert them to a story that I believed everyone would want to follow. It didn’t take them long. When the 10:00 pm news was broadcast a few hours later, every station in New York led with the story; cameramen had located him some blocks up the street from where I spoke with him. And the next day, three days after the "winner" crossed the line, another winner did the same, this time a true winner! And again, the media and the Mayor were present.

While some seek to take a short cut in life, others, those stronger, with resolve, honesty, discipline, and delayed gratification push on. And this late arriving hero was the perfect example

All will know the name Dag Hammarskjold, a Swede, and who was the UN Secretary-General. He died in a plane crash in Africa in 1961. I will leave you with two of his quotes. They are from his book, Markings, a copy of which my father gave me some years ago. I often turn to it for inspiration...

"Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step; only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find the right road", and, "The only kind of dignity which is genuine is that which is not diminished by the indifference of others."

In a search for ultimate values, one high on the list must be a respect for the dignity of all mankind. As Christians we have established checkpoints and among them are constant reassessments of our values. They are what set us apart from the world, raise our awareness of responsibilities, and move us ever closer to the goal; the victor's crown! John H W Stott shared in a conferencce I attended 'that the greatest indictment that can be levied against the church (the Army) is that we are no different than the world.' The world needs to see a difference. Commissioner Christine McMillan, director of the recently established SA Social Justice Commission, now headquartered in the Corps building I refer to above, said in an interview in this week's Salvationist that we can effect a difference in the world by living our values, 'It's learning to have a different lifestyle ... It's now looking out into the world and living not only from a point of moral righteousness but also looking at the world from a moral deficit'. It's running the race not only with the purpose of winning the race, but completing it and making a difference by maintaining integrity throughout; no shortcuts, no pushing others aside, no moving the finishing line.

"...in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:37-39