I love to read sports journalism and some of the stories that I’ve read have stayed with me. In one of these it think it was Nirmal Shekhar who wrote this story about India’s most reliable test batsman , Rahul “the wall” Dravid taking another famous cricketer Virender Sehwag to watch the movie adaptation of “Sea Biscuit.” After watching the movie Dravid seems to have commented that he preferred the book to the movie as so often is the case with movie adaptations of brilliant books going awry. I was wondering why Dravid was so impressed with the book that he had to watch the movie as well. The best way to find out was to watch the movie myself. In the movie the protagonist is a jockey who’s the best in the business. Before this most important race he meets with a fatal accident that leaves him handicapped. Seabiscuit’s owner wants to pull out of the race but Toby McGuire who plays the protagonist, urges him that the race is on. He recommends another jockey who goes on to win the race. A very moving story of selfless commitment to a greater cause- putting the mission above one’s own personal ambition.
Having observed Rahul Dravid’s career from the beginning I knew that this was a man who put the mission above everything else and no wonder he was so moved by this story of sacrifice. What is it that makes ordinary men perform extraordinary feats? If you would ask each of them you would find out that they had a greater cause or purpose that motivated them, a cause much greater than themselves that spurred them on. Many of these achievers when they are past their prime look back wistfully on the days of yore with much longing. But one must ask the question “is there any cause noble enough in this world that is worth sacrificing one’s life for?” How many stories have we heard of forgotten heroes? Olympians eking out a living doing menial jobs, freedom fighters living in acute poverty……the list is endless. The kingdom of God is the only one of it’s kind where you lose it all and yet gain it all. Not only in the life to come but also in this life as we read in Mark 10:29- 30 “truly I say to you there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for my sake and for the gospel’s sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and In the age to come, eternal life.”
Man in his selfish pursuits will never find his true purpose of his life. You were not created for the mundane but for the eternal and the ethereal. In your life’s purpose hangs the destiny of this planet and the world around us. How many of our hearts sang when Barak Obama talked about change and hope with those three magical words “yes we can.” And he was not the first one As Bishop Al Sharpton so eloquently put it “ long before Oprah, Obama or Tiger Woods” (he left out Michael Jordan) there was Michael Jackson who sang about equality and wiping out poverty. Here was a man who wanted to change the world but who ultimately couldn’t control his own demons. There is only one way out for mankind. In 1 Corinthians 2:9 we read “things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard and which have not entered the heart of man all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” The promise of life as it is meant to be lived can be found in abandonment. When you abandon your life as it is with its self centered and short sighted views and instead choose to do the will of the heavenly Father, then you will truly find your life’s calling. As Romans 8:19 says “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.” Through Jesus Christ we have become the children of God but after that there is a transition from being mere children to becoming the sons of God. In Galatians 4:1-7 Paul compares children to slaves and sons to free men. It is these mature sons that are being talked about in Romans 8:19. These are sons and daughters who crucify the flesh and their selfish agendas and take on the challenge of fulfilling the Father’s will. These are people empowered by the Holy Spirit and God Himself delegates authority to them as we read in Luke 10:19. there is tremendous power available to these sons and daughters of God that any mountain before them will crumble. Watch out World, they are coming and the world will never be the same