A speaker from Dallas, Texas, recently shared this story with members of the National Speakers Association. One young man, set to run in a one hundred meter race in the Special Olympics, had trained for months and months. But when the gun finally sounded and he leaped out in front of the rest, it seems the excitement of the race overcame him.  Each foot went in a different direction, and the well-meaning athlete came tumbling down right in front of the starting block.  The other racers, each as eager as he was to compete in this great event, nevertheless stopped running their own race and turned back to help him.  The crowd came to their feet as his competitors lovingly lifted him up and then walked arm in arm across the finish line together.

        These runners in the Special Olympics made me think of Jesus and his set of rules.  I thought about him choosing to tell the story about the shepherd who cannot rest as long as even one sheep is still missing, despite the ninety-nine of them which aren’t…about a father who is waiting on the road, watching for his lost son to come home, even though he has one son who is serving him ably and well…about a king holding a banquet, who will not start serving dinner until every place is filled at the Great Table…

        And I wonder what this world would be like if we played by that rule: nobody wins until we all do.

QUESTIONS:

                How many of our activities are predicated on “getting ahead”, or “winning?”