Inspiring sporting stories

Our middle son winning a race earlier in the year.

One of the blogs I read is by Rachel, a cross-cultural worker in Djibouti. She's just had an article published in Runner's World about a woman who is a former Olympic runner who trains girls in her country to run. It's an inspiring story. These women are going up against so many obstacles in their country: cultural norms, poverty, danger, weather, etc.

"We train girls to run, and use club membership as motivation for them to stay in school. We focus on developing strong character and good health and hygiene."

It's well worth a read. 

Another cross-cultural worker has written at velvetashes.com about what we can learn from sports movies (or backstories from the Olympics). I'm a sucker for a good sports movie, or any kind of movie or story where a lot of work goes into developing a skill and there is victory in the end. A story like this is most likely to get me teary, far more than a romance (you can see me like this at sporting events where my boys are competing and succeeding). The article lays out several areas we can learn from these stories:

• teamwork is essential
• victory is not a given
• long term perspective is encouraged
• redemption (significant change occures)

These are things we can learn from as we live the missionary life.

The only thing that puzzles me is the title of the article: "Potato Chips as a Healthy Meal." If anyone can explain that to me...