It has been the motto of the Olympic Games for generations: Citius, Altius, Fortius–Swifter, Higher, Stronger. And every time the flag with the interlocking rings is lifted above the crowd, the motto proves true. Sometimes the increase in speed or strength is breathtaking, measured in gasps of amazement from the adulating multitudes. Sometimes the change from the last record is so slight that only the highest technology could calculate it.
Which brings one to the question: How swift and high and strong is man anyway? Tom Jager swam 5.37 miles per hour in the 1990 Games. The American heavy eight rowers averaged 13.29 mph at Lucerne, Switzerland in 1984. Ben Johnson and Carl Lewis ran 26.95 mph at the Seoul Olympics in 1988. In the 100 m. ski event, home favorite Michael Pruefer of France reached 142.165 mph–on skis, mind you!
How strong? Lamar Grant powerlifted 661 lbs. when he himself weighed 132 lbs. in 1985. The 24-hour deadlift record by an individual is 818,121 lbs. set by Anthony Wright of Her Majesty’s Prison (aren’t we glad!) in Featherstone (yes, that’s correct), England.
Impressive though these facts are–especially to anyone who has competed in events like these–how pathetic they seem when laid up against the universe in which we live. Where does proud man fit on the scale when we talk of stars like the supergiant Betelgeux, with a diameter of 400 million miles (remember our sun is 93 million miles from us!)? It could swallow much of our solar system, yet our God hung it on nothing. And when we speak of distances and speed, man vaunts his prowess on a speck of dust in a modest solar system which spins 30,000 light years from the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way. After our sun, the nearest star to us is Proxima Centauri, a mere 25 trillion miles away. And the farthest? Man has no idea. But the farthest object he can perceive is the radio source 4C 41.17, which is 12.8 billion light years away (7.5 x 1022 miles).
No wonder Jeremiah instructed: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me…” (Jer. 9:23-24).
Yet those who know the Lord have available to them resources that athletes and astronomers can only dream about. Prayer warriors can flit, in a moment, to the other side of the world, doing combat with the forces of evil. Is light the limiting speed in the universe? Hardly. Prayer outstrips it by far. “Before they call, I will answer,” says the Lord.
And what shall we say of the powerlifts possible to those who are “strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man” (Eph. 3:16)? What resources are these: “the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places” (Eph. 1:19-20)?
Many of our readers had the opportunity to attend the Uplook Conference in Lexington, KY. For you, this month’s magazine is intended to be a refresher course, reminding you not only of the happy times spent in prayer, fellowship, and study, but also to stir you to remember the commitments you made, the prayers you prayed, the vision you caught of how things might be by God’s grace. Don’t settle back into the old status quo. Let’s Rise Up and Build!
Many who wanted to attend were not able. This edition is provided to give you a taste at least of the ministry which you missed the first time, but which is available in audio and/or video cassettes (see ad later in the magazine). Perhaps in ’97 if the Lord wills!
And, yes, this is the March edition. Although the cover of the Jan/Feb issue didn’t say so, it was combined. We have had a busy few months here, publishing two new books and preparing the 1997 Choice Gleanings. Thanks for your patience and prayers.