Eric Liddell: The Runner Who Would Not Run on Sunday

Eric Liddell was born in China, where his parents had gone to tell people about Jesus, and he grew up to be the fastest runner in all of Scotland. When he raced, people said, he ran with his head thrown back and his face lifted to the sky, as if he were running for the sheer joy of it. “God made me fast,” Eric said, “and when I run, I feel His pleasure.”

In 1924 Eric was chosen to run for his country in the Olympic Games, and everyone was sure he would win the hundred-metre race. Then the timetable was announced, and Eric's heart sank: his race was to be run on a Sunday. Eric believed Sunday was God's day, a day to rest and worship, and he made up his mind that he would not run on it — not even for an Olympic gold medal.

People were angry. Newspapers called him foolish. The whole country urged him to change his mind. But Eric would not. So he trained instead for a different, longer race, the four hundred metres, which was not his best and which nobody expected him to win.

On the day of that race, someone slipped a note into Eric's hand. It said that God honours those who honour Him. Eric ran as though his feet had wings — and he not only won the gold medal, he broke the world record. The boy who gave up his best race had been given a better one.

But the most surprising thing came next. At the very height of his fame, when he could have had anything, Eric gave it all up and went back to China to serve as a missionary and teacher. Years later, during a great war, he was locked in a crowded prison camp. There he became everyone's friend and helper, teaching the children games and lessons, carrying the sick, and giving away his own small share of food. He died in that camp, worn out from caring for others, and the whole camp mourned him. Eric Liddell had run his last and best race — not for a medal, but for the love of God and of everyone around him.