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Q. What did track teach you about patience?

A. Impetuous young athletes try to go faster than their ability allows. Unless a coach challenges this tendency, they'll lack the strength needed to make it to the finish.

During my junior and senior years at a small country high school, I ran track, practicing on a cinder track. Our coach used a sprinter's harness—a vest attached to a telephone pole by ropes and pulleys—to assist in our training. With this antiquated contraption he could regulate the speed of a sprinter.

I remember strapping on the vest, and Coach reeling me into the blocks. At the firing of a starting pistol, I pushed out of my starting position, cinders spraying like shrapnel from my track cleats. Coach slowly let out more rope, prolonging my tug-of-war with the pole.

In this slow-motion pose, the coach could adjust my form and correct my running posture. Best of all, the device built the "quick twitch muscles" required for sprinters. After 30 seconds or so, the coach would blow his whistle to end the ordeal. He'd reel me in and we'd start the whole chase over again.

Coach would continually remind me, "This exercise will build the muscles and tensile strength you'll need for endurance. You'll have the stamina and power to take you to the finish line without your speed decreasing in the last few yards."

I always looked forward to the final sprint of the day—the one without the vest. When Coach fired the starter's pistol, I blasted out of the blocks like a rocket!

Wayne Cordeiro is senior pastor of New Hope Christian Fellowship in Honolulu.

Adapted from The Dream Releasers (Regal, 2002) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

Lord, I trust You to act when the time is right. Give me the discipline to wait for Your time.

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