Going the extra mile (or 50m)

Today the school secretary from my son's school, Somerset West Primary, sent me a beautiful photo of my ginga ninja taken last week at their Inter-house sports. Last week it seems I only heard a tiny part of the story. Anthony very proudly came home and said "Mommy, I ran as hard as I could and I came fifth out of eleven!"  When Karin sent me this picture, I saw the other half of the story and I cried.  You should see this picture!

Picture: Karin Van Rooyen

Let me start by explaining that "Summies" (as Somerset West Primary is affectionately called) has three "houses" - Van Der Stel (blue shirts), Lord Charles (yellow shirts) and Beaufort (white shirts).  That's what makes this photo even more poignant and significant.  Anthony, who is running with all his might (you can tell from the determined, focused look on his face) is very much in the Van Der Stel team. But the real story behind this is that the teaching staff, because of Anthony's low vision, organised for an older pupil to be a "running guide" for him.  This boy, very clearly from the Beaufort team, ran the full 50m at Anthony's pace, holding on to him, and gently guiding him to the finishing line.  What a beautiful example of selfless teamwork.

I've heard many "team talks" at school assemblies - my own school, at Summies and at Hottentots-Holland High School, and we all know the clichés - "There's no 'I' in 'team'" and "Team means Together Everyone Achieves More", but Summies live it, and they've proven it over and over again.  This picture just screams "teamwork" - what if Anthony had been a top sprinter and got a whole heap of points for Van Der Stel while being helped by someone from Beaufort?  It didn't matter - this was a fellow Summie who needed his help.  I don't know who this lad is, but by the look on his face, he's totally focussed on one thing - helping Anthony to finish his race and finish well.  Sacrificing your own needs to help the team achieve more.  What a beautiful lesson this is!  It really gives me hope for South Africa's future.

But I really got thinking deeply about this picture.  It's such a picture of how we as Christians - Christ-followers - should be living our lives.  When we turn to God, He never asks us to see the finish line.  He says "this is the way, walk in it" and we run with all our strength - that's what He's asked us to do. We don't have to see where the end is, we just have to run - because running beside us, holding on to us and never letting us go is our Guide - the Holy Spirit - who can see the end, and whose aim it is to see us finish and finish well. It doesn't matter that we are poor, that we come from the wrong side of town, that we came from a terrible background, that we are divorced, that we've messed up big time - as Christ-followers we're all "on the same team" and the Holy Spirit keeps leading us, irrespective of who we are or where we came from .

Together Everyone Achieves More - Anthony certainly did last week.  May it be true of all of us.