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Key Bible Verse: Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons (Hebrews 12:7a).
Bonus Reading: Hebrews 12:4-13

A discus thrower developed his skills alone in his highland village in Scotland. This was in the nineteenth century, before the days of professional trainers. He made his own discus from the description he read in a book. What he didn't know was that the discus used in competition was made of wood with an outer rim of iron. His was solid metal and weighed three or four times as much as those being used by his would-be challengers. This committed Scotsman marked out his field the distance of the current record throw and trained day and night to be able to match it. For nearly a year, he labored under the self-imposed burden of the extra weight, becoming very, very good. He reached the point at which he could throw his iron discus the record distance, maybe farther. He was ready.

The highlander traveled south to England for his first competition. When he arrived at the games, he was handed the official wooden discus—which he promptly threw like a tea saucer. He set a new record, a distance so far beyond those of his competitors that no one could touch him. For many years he remained the uncontested champion.

—John Eldredge in The Sacred Romance

—William A. Ward (college administrator, 20th century)

Adapted from: and Brent Curtis, The Sacred Romance (Nelson, 1997).

NOTE: For your convenience, The Sacred Romance is available in the ChristianityToday.com Shopping Channel.

Prayer for the Week

Thank you, Jesus, for being there when I fall.

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