Let's run the race together

I was reading a book titled Growing leaders by James Lawrence which reflects on leadership, life, and Jesus. In this book, there are a lot of stories to reflect on but there is one story that caught my attention and I thought about sharing it here.

"There were two men lined up on the starting grid since all other competitors had dropped out. The gun went off. The two men, both with cerebral palsy, lurched off the line. One of the coaches ran beside the track, coaxing his athlete on 'come on, Joey, you can win' at the first corner Joey was leading by 25 meters. A subtle chant came from the crowd: 'Joey, Joey, Joey' going into the last turn, Joey's lead had stretched to 40 meters. The other competitor was weary and losing heart. 25 meters from the finish, Joey suddenly stopped and he turned to his coach and smiled, acknowledged the crowd, and then turned back to the other young man and said, 'come on, buddy'. Joey held out his hand until the man was alongside him, and they ran across the line together. The crowd went wild" the reporter was heard to utter, 'make me more like Joey'
Imagine something like this happened!! because I was really shocked 🤯the first time I read this story and a lot of thoughts💭 came in my mind like how we just focus on ourselves. From this story, there are important lessons to learn that can shape our lives such as;

• Even though Joey had a lot of people cheering on him that didn't stop him from helping his competitor because he knew they are both not well enough and the other one is wearier than him. In this life we are all running a race there are a lot of highs and lows we need to have the heart of Joey in order to see people who need our help because at the end of the day we all need each other.
• you become a real winner when you make sacrifices to help people. Joey could have finished the race without helping his competitor and become a winner but no he chose to turn back. From that act, the crowd went wild and even the coach was heard to stammer through his tear- lined face, ' Attaboy, Joey. you are a real winner'.

Let's run the race together means encourage others in their journey, be kind and give people smiles 😇 because you don't know what they are going through, and offer them a hand to help them run.

At the end of the day, we all need to tell God "make me more like Joey" in order to be able to help people around us.

Make me more like Joey!