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Running Your Race: The Story of Eric Liddell · Traveler’s Tales

• 0:00
  History has a way of remembering champions.
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  The world keeps score by speed, strength, and finish lines.
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  Crowds rise to their feet for medals placed around a champion's neck.
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  But eternity measures victory differently.
• 0:29
  Heaven takes notice when a life is laid down in surrender.
• 0:34
  Some athletes are remembered because they outran their competition.
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  Others are remembered because they outlived their generation in impact.
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  Today we step into the story of a man who could outrun almost anyone on earth.
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  Yet the greatest victory of his life was not found on a track.
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  It was found in learning to walk in step with God.
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  His name was Eric Little.
• 1:02
  And his life still whispers a question that every believer must eventually answer.
• 1:07
  What are you willing to surrender for the will of God?
• 1:11
  Welcome to Traveler's Tales, produced by Enjoying the Journey.
• 1:15
  This is Greg Dowdy.
• 1:17
  Eric Little was born January 16, 1902 in China to missionary parents.
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  At five years of age, he was sent to Scotland for education.
• 1:27
  He grew into an extraordinary athlete, a rugby star, Olympic runner, world record holder.
• 1:35
  By the early 1920s, Eric Little was one of the fastest men on earth.
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  But Eric understood something many gifted people never learn,
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  that talent is a gift God places in our hands, and purpose is what he intends to do with it.
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  He once said that when he ran, he felt God's pleasure.
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  But Eric also had a conviction that Sunday belonged to the Lord.
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  At the 1924 Paris Olympics, Eric was expected to win gold in the 100 meters, his best event.
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  But there was a problem.
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  The race was scheduled on Sunday.
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  Pressure came from everywhere, friends, coaches, government officials.
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  This was national pride, national expectation and pressure.
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  But Eric refused, not out of stubbornness, not out of rebellion, but because he was surrendered.
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  Instead, he entered the 400 meter race, an event that he was not expected to win.
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  On the morning of his scheduled Sunday race, Eric went to church.
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  Before the 400 meter final, someone handed him a note.
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  It read, them that honor me, I will honor.
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  From 1 Samuel 2 verse 30.
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  That day, Eric Little didn't just win.
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  He shattered the world record.
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  And here's the lesson.
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  When you surrender what seems like your greatest opportunity,
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  you make room for God's greatest purpose.
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  Eric surrendered fame.
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  God gave him influence.
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  Eric surrendered control.
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  God gave him legacy.
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  The question is not, what could you achieve for yourself?
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  No, the real question is, what could God do through your life fully surrendered?
• 3:31
  Here's what most people don't know.
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  The Olympic gold medal was not the greatest chapter of Eric Little's life.
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  One year later, he returned to China as a missionary.
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  In 1934, he married Florence McKenzie.
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  They served faithfully.
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  Then war came.
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  Danger came.
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  Then suffering came.
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  In 1941, as Japanese oppression increased, Eric sent his wife and children to safety in Canada.
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  And he would never see them again.
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  In 1943, Eric was placed in a Japanese internment camp with nearly 2,000 prisoners.
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  There was hunger, disease, fear.
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  But even there, Eric served others.
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  He taught children.
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  He encouraged the hopeless.
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  He shared Scripture daily.
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  He prayed faithfully.
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  At one point, he even gave up a chance at freedom,
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  allowing an expectant mother to be released instead.
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  Why?
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  Because surrender had become who he was.
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  Eric Little eventually developed an inoperable brain tumor.
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  As he lay dying, he kept pointing people to one truth,
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  surrender everything to the will of God.
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  In his final hours as he drifted toward a coma,
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  he was heard trying to say one word, surrender.
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  Friend, don't waste the life God has given you.
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  The world may remember medals, but heaven remembers surrender.
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  Today, the medals from 1924 are mostly forgotten.
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  But Eric Little's life still speaks.
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  It still challenges.
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  It still calls us higher.
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  So here's the question.
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  If you know something is true, will you follow it?
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  Even if it costs you opportunity?
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  Even if it costs you popularity, comfort, even security?
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  Because a surrendered life is never a wasted life.
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  Give it all to God and watch what he does with it.
• 5:39
  Thank you for being a companion with me today on Traveler's Tales.
• 5:44
  If you find these podcasts helpful and encouraging,
• 5:47
  we hope you'll pass them along to others.
• 5:49
  For more Bible study resources and to find more stories of faith like this one
• 5:54
  that will help your Christian walk, we encourage you to visit us at etj.bible.