Olympic Faith

The Olympic games are on — at the site where they began thousands of years ago. They invite us to reconsider what it means to “run with patience the race that is set before us.”

Run, Rosa, run.

Rosa Gutierrez has been on the run for most of her life, running hard in competitive races such as the Stockton 10-miler, the Gasparilla 15k race and the Rotary Mission Ten. She runs between 80 and 90 miles a week, plus regular swimming and weight training, and she is able to cover long distances at the impressive pace of six minutes per mile. All of this has been in preparation for the marathon at the 2004 Olympic games, a race in which she hopes to be part of the American team.

Yet, throughout her training, Rosa has kept today’s passage from Hebrews in mind: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us” (12:1).

When she runs, Rosa remembers the men and women of faith who have gone before her, including her mother and her father. They moved from Mexico to the United States with nothing in their pockets, but...