Nineteen-year-old, Marco Andretti became the youngest driver to win a major open-wheel race, claiming victory at the 2006 Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma. Toward the end of the race, as Andretti was running low on fuel, a timely caution flag was waved, allowing him to conserve enough to make it to the finish. "We'll never know for sure if he would have made it on fuel without the yellow," said Marco's father, Michael.

 

On August 11-12 I traveled to Camp Randall Stadium on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison to watch one of my favorite activities: the Drum Corps International World Championships. For those of you who may not be familiar with the activity, I will describe it as "the ultimate intensity of marching music." While not an official sport, I can tell you from experience, both as an athlete and as a former participant in this activity, that you work just as hard during a summer on tour with a drum and bugle corps as you do during an athletic season. These young people, ages 15-21, spend 2.5 months traveling across the country in a bus, sleeping on gym floors, marching and playing outside 10-12 hours a day and for what? Perfection.

As athletes we really don't like losing, do we? And we love winning. We always strive for a winning season or perfect record, no matter what it may take: pain, blood, sweat and maybe even tears.

 

This is sort of like life. There will be winners and there will be losers. But as Christians who stand up for God and are saved through the shed blood of Jesus Christ we will end up having the overall victory. We will defeat Satan and all his demons and live eternally in heaven.

 

As an athlete how many times have you wanted to quit, or just stop and give up? I know as a cross country runner there are times when it's just too hot, and I don't want to run, so I stop and walk, even though I know it will only put me at a disadvantage later. It's just so tempting when that person who's usually behind you passes you, or someone in front of you starts walking. It's times like these when we need something many of us lack: perseverance and endurance.

 

I was flipping through the channels on my TV the other day and came across a softball game that was in the top of the final inning. The visiting team was down 3-4 with runners on 1st and 2nd and a full count to the batter. The pitch. . . The batter hit a line drive past the shortstop, and then as the left fielder charged the ball to make the throw to home, she picked up her glove too soon and the ball rolled underneath allowing both base runners to score. That put the visiting team up 5-4--a score by which they would win. After the game, the announcers were talking about the winning pitcher, saying, "She didn't pitch great, but she pitched good enough."