Since the latest Olympic Games have been held in Paris, we thought it was interesting to learn that an amazing Christian athlete and later missionary ran during the Olympics in Paris in 1924. You may recall the 1981 movie “Chariots of Fire” portrayed the story about “The Flying Scotsman” Eric Liddell, a man who shocked the world by refusing to run the 100 meters, a race he was favored to win at the 1924 Olympic Games. Eric withdrew because the qualifying heat was on a Sunday and that violated his Christian beliefs. Liddell felt that God didn’t want him to run on the Lord’s Day. He then went on to run the 400 meter race, setting a new world’s record and winning the gold for Scotland. It was an incredibly inspiring story…and the music is outstanding! But you may not know that after the Olympic Games, Liddell became a missionary to China, his birth place and the same nation where his parents had served as missionaries. When China became too violent for Christian workers, Eric sent his wife and children home, while he stayed. Eventually Liddell was sent to a prison camp where he died from a brain tumor. But the impact he made on hundreds…perhaps thousands of people…lives on.
You can read about his wonderful life and legacy through this fascinating story by Randy Alcorn and Eternal Perspectives Ministry (epm.org):
https://www.epm.org/resources/2018/Feb/12/olympian-eric-liddell