As Meghan turned for home during Saturday’s Ohio Division III girls state meet, she was in last place in the 3,200-meter race with no hope of finishing anywhere near the top. But her last-place finish became the most memorable part of the meet.
With 20 meters to go, Meghan, a junior at West Liberty-Salem High School in Urbana, was about to pass Arden, a sophoomore from a rival school.
Suddenly Arden collapsed on the track. Rather than continue running, Meghan helped her to her feet, placed her arm around her shoulders and carried her across the finish line.
Meghan made sure Arden crossed the finish line first and said she was surprised by the praise she received for an act of selflessness she believed was anything but extraordinary.
“It’s strange to have people telling me that his was such a powerful act of kindness and using words like ‘humanity,’” Meghan said. “When I hear words like that I think of Harriet Tubman and saving people’s lives. I don’t consider myself a hero. I just did what I knew was right and what I was supposed to do.”
Under the rules, a runner is automatically disqualified for helping another runner during a race, but the officials allowed both girls’ finish to remain in the results, a lasting testament to what was much more than a last-place finish.
There is definitely a Christian principle from this.
Each Christian is in a race.
1 Cor 9:24-26 says do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty.
This girl is an example of what we as Christians should do – stop and help someone else run the race.
That principle is seen in the scripture as bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Gal 6:2
It’s easy to pass others up and continue on your way. I’ve come to realize that sometimes someone just needs a helping hand, a kind smile, a hug, or a “God bless you” today
If you are a mature Christian, you have more responsibility than others. You are a leader in the kingdom of God and the church.
You are being watched and studied. You are the one others will mimic.
We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Rom 15:1
When we help others we teach the way of Jesus, who helped the poor, the forgotten, and the unloveable.
So we should also!