Sister to Sister

Eric Liddell: God made countries, God makes kings, and the rules by which they govern. And those rules say that the Sabbath is His. And I for one intend to keep it that way. “

“Chariots of Fire” is one of my favorite movies, and Eric Liddell is one of my heroes.  Eric Liddell’s immovable faith has always awed me. In great temptation, he remained firm! How hard it must’ve been for him! But he held true, and that will always stick out in my mind about him. How many of us give in when we’re tempted? I, for one, give in more often than not when I’m tempted! And I’m ashamed to admit that, because when I compare myself to Eric Liddell, I see a long way I have to travel before I have the strong courage to say “no” like he did. Too often, when tempted, I say to myself, “I’m too tired to put up a fight.” “I’ll have time to do it later.” “I really don’t care.” Over and over again I try to brace myself, and say no, but then give in so easily! My problem is, I face my temptations head on without asking for God’s help. My spirit may be willing but my flesh is weak! Weak, and how can someone who is weak conquer anything? Can you see a weak man picking up an enormous boulder without dropping it back down? Why do people, who are so weak, like myself, refuse to ask God for help and try things on our own? Time and time again I learn that I can’t do anything by myself. And time and time again I learn that I can do anything WITH God. You’d think I’d get it into my head by now! But no, it’s because of my stubborness, my pride, my laziness that I don’t want to stop to ask for help. I’ve been realizing just how wrong I am in this, and it’s been an enormous struggle for me to fight against these feelings, but I know in the end, I’ll come out the stronger, and the better for it all. I need to remember that God needs to humble me before He can raise me up.

I’ve also been thinking about my talents again. I seem to think about them every so often, it seems. lol. But I was rummaging through my files on the computer and found this little paragraph that I had wrote a few months back:

“There was one line in the movie, “Chariot’s of Fire”, that really stuck out to me. Not the one above, but it’s a piece where someone says “Run your best to honor God, and let the world stand back in awe.” (Not the exact words, but that was the meaning…) How many of us waste our time wishing, “I wish I had a better singing voice!” “I wish I could draw like that!” “I wish I could play such and such an instrument like that person.” “I wish..” “I wish..”Stop wishing! You have your talents! God chose those certain talents to suit YOU. So what, someone else is better than you at singing. So what if someone else is writing best-seller novels. It doesn’t mean that your talent is beneath those. Your talent is a gift from God. A BLESSING. Let’s use our talents to HONOR God. Not ourselves. Not our family. GOD. If we do that, the world just may stand back in awe. If not, who cares. God is still watching. And isn’t His opinion the one that matters? I highly recommend this movie. Don’t watch it just to watch a movie. Watch it to learn something. There is much you can learn from Eric Liddell.”

And it is true…no matter how many times I go back to watch “Chariot’s of Fire” or read more on Eric Liddell, I always come away feeling more inspired to walk along the “narrow path”. He is a man who I greatly admire and always will.

Sam