It was the summer of 1996…

I had just turned 12 years old. My teeth were covered in braces and my nightstand was covered in a stack of Teen Beat magazines (featuring Jonathan Taylor Thomas 😍).

Bill Clinton was president, Mission: Impossible was at the box office, and for only the fourth time in the history of the Summer Olympics, the games were being hosted right here in the United States…Atlanta, Georgia to be exact.

I can remember there was a lot of fanfare leading up to the Olympics that year…and like any red-blooded American girl my age, I was obsessed with the USA women’s gymnastics team…namely Shannon Miller, Dominique Moceanu, Dominique Dawes, and Kerri Strug.

I must have done a million cartwheels in my back yard that summer just waiting for the games to commence.

Finally, late in July, the world turned on their TV’s in eager anticipation of witnessing what we thought would be an amazing display of athletic skill, talent, and preparation.

Instead, we got so much more.

If you’re like me and were old enough to remember those games yourself, then the photo at the top of this post may look somewhat familiar to you.

It’s the moment that the world anxiously watched as Olympic gymnast Kerri Strug (with a freshly injured ankle) dusted herself off, got back up and attempted her final vault — nailing the landing and dramatically clinching the gold medal for Team USA for the first time in Olympic history.🏅

You can see the emotion written all over her face. Joy. Pain. Relief. Perseverance. Grit. Selflessness. Dedication. Struggle. Triumph.

It was AMAZING.

And you know what?

I can relate.

Well…..maybe not to winning Olympic Gold (I never even made it past doing front hand-springs in my backyard 😂)…

But as a Christian, I CAN relate on a spiritual level:

• Kerri had winning in mind:

“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.” – I Corinthians 9:24-25

• Kerri knew the task at hand required focus and endurance:

“And let us run with endurance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” – Hebrews 12:2

• Kerri knew the world was watching:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.” – Hebrews 12:1

• Kerri faced a painful trial and smiled through her tears:

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” – James 1:2-3

And perhaps the most interesting part of it all, is a shocking fact that I only recently learned:

Team USA would’ve won gold even without Kerri’s last vault.

😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳

Boom. Mic drop.

You see, they didn’t realize it at the time (because the teams from other countries had not yet received their final scores), but in hindsight, ultimately team USA’s scores on all of their other events were high enough to safely clinch the championship title even without Kerri’s final vault.

Although she was willing to sacrifice and ultimately gained the respect and admiration of the world for it — the victory was already won…she didn’t win Olympic gold because of her sacrifice, she won because she was on the winning team.

Aaaaannndd….Boom. I can relate!

Sometimes, I live my life as if it ALL depends on me to “make it to Heaven.” But ultimately, the prize of eternal life is not something we can earn on our own.

In this pressure cooker called life, it’s easy to forget that I’m on Jesus’ team — and the pressure isn’t on me alone to “clinch the gold” so-to-speak. The Bible says Jesus has already won the victory for us (John 16:33) — a victory we could have never accomplished alone!

That’s not to say we don’t have a part to play — our goal is to stay on His team, the winning team. And as part of the team, we are still called to endure, sacrifice, and persevere along the way, taking up our cross daily and following Jesus (Luke 9:23).

When Kerri Strug stuck that final landing, the cheers from the crowd were undoubtedly deafening. The newspaper headlines the next day sang her praises, exclaiming, “Kerri Perseveres to Win.” And I can only imagine the kind of praise she received from her beloved coach, Bella Karolyi…it was a real-life fairytale ending.

But as sweet a victory as that must have been, none of those accolades could ever compare with hearing, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

Friends, it may feel as though we are broken at times in this life, but please stay on God’s team and don’t give up. Be a vault-finder and look for ways to “take one for the team” and serve him through your pain. If we do, He promises that we will stick the final landing, too.

Until next time…

-PWAP