In my studies of America's history, I've been introduced to ordinary people who accomplished extraordinary things. Some were unwilling, some believed passionately in a cause, some were in the right place at the right time - or the wrong place at the wrong time. The thing is, that out of hundreds of millions of Americans - citizens of the greatest nation ever on planet Earth, only a tiny fraction have stood out.
We've made heroes of people who've accomplished something in life. Americans used to look up to Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, and Alvin York. Today we look up to entertainers like Mylie Cyrus and Olympic athletes like Michael Phelps. See the difference?
Well, I've heard of someone who gained fame not for being the best athlete, but for being the worst in their sport; but in my view, he's a hero. Eric Moussambani, a native of Equatorial Guinea, was given the opportunity to participate in the 2000 Olympic Games. Only eight months earlier, Eric had never swam. He learned in a 20 foot hotel swimming pool - not the regulation 80 foot pool. On the day he was to compete, Eric found himself in the last heat. There were only two other competitors; one from Niger and the other from Tajikistan. Both of these swimmers were disqualified for false starts. Only Eric stood poised to dive when the buzzer sounded.
At this point, Eric could have looked around at all the fans and tried to explain how he'd just learned how to swim a few months ago. He had seen how fast the swimmers were in the previous heats and knew that he had no chance of beating any of them. He could have made excuses and tried to prepare the fans and judges for what he knew would be an embarrassing performance, but Eric didn't do any of these things. He simply jumped into the pool - he didn't dive like the other athletes, but jumped - and he started dog paddling his way to the other end of the pool. Eric moved his head back and forth as other swimmers had done, although his head remained above water the entire time. When he got down to the end of the pool, he didn't do a nice flip and push off for the return leg, he grabbed onto the edge of the pool, caught his breath, and started swimming slowly back to the finish line.
By the time he was half way back, Eric was struggling. Even members of the media were removing their jackets and preparing to jump in to save him from drowning. But Eric pressed on, paddling his way to the finish line in one minute and fifty three seconds, a minute and four seconds behind the winner. Pieter van den Hoogenband.
When Eric finished his lap, he had the biggest grin on his face. The fans and media were cheering for him. A few laughed at his efforts and remarked that he should never have been there. One reporter wondered if Eric's home town of Malabo even had a pool if this was the best they could send to represent their country. Yet for Eric, he set his own personal best record and the national record for his country. Most importantly, Eric jumped into that pool and finished what he had started. Four years later, Eric had dropped a minute off his time, but was denied entry into the 2004 Olympic games because of a visa mistake. Still, his name will go down in history; not for being the best at what he did, but for doing his best with what he had.
In a culture that is enthralled with celebrity and with being close to exceptional people, how many of us choose to jump into our circumstances and give it our personal best? We are, afterall, human beings, not has-beens.
We were created to be passionate about life. Specifically, we were created to be passionate about God's life and our relationship with Him. The disciple Peter lived, ate, and learned from Jesus, but he's remembered most for walking on water. Sure, Peter sank when he took his eyes off of Jesus, but Peter understood that Jesus had something he wanted. He wanted to experience Christ, so he got out of the boat and into the sea. We should all desire to live above our circumstances and experience life as God created us to share with Him.
We should all be like Enoch of the Old Testament. Enoch was seventh in descendance from Adam and all before him had lived into their sixth, seventh, eighth and even ninth centuries. Enoch's son, Methusulah, lived longer than any other man since Creation. Enoch, however, only lived a little over 300 years - a young man in ancient times. But scripture tells us that Enoch walked with God for three hundred years. Enoch had an intimate relationship with God. He talked to God, walked with God, he spoke to his people for God, and scripture tells us that one day God took Enoch - he didn't die, God just hugged him a little closer and Enoch woke up face to face with his Creator.
Most of us cannot picture ourselves being so devoted to God that He just reaches out and takes us home, body and all. We can't even imagine walking on water like Peter or caring for thousands of lepers like Mother Teresa. We might know a lot of facts about God, but perhaps we've never experienced Him personally.
However, we can do what Eric Moussambani did - jump into the pool and give it our best shot, with the knowledge that at the other end of this life is a reward with a Father who's been waiting for the opportunity to give us a hug and a high-five for finishing our life's race.
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