I have struggled with being a “normal” person. Many of these struggles include the normalcy of everyday living. My role as a wife, mother, and full-time working woman—combined with the lack of notoriety, international travel, and the thrill of competition—has presented many challenges. Sometimes it has even created fear in me.

But there is one future transition coming—one that I am certain will contain no fear. I am speaking of my transition someday into the presence of my heavenly Father. Although I am challenged by this life, I look forward to seeing my Savior face to face. Although the desire for death is not imminent for me, I am secure in knowing that the current challenges I face will cease to exist on the day I enter heaven. The longing and voids I sometimes feel because of no longer being an elite level athlete will be transformed into joy.

I rejoice in knowing that I am secure in this knowledge because of the blood Jesus shed for me. His death assures me of eternal life. It causes me to no longer dread what I miss, but to focus on what’s to come.

Soon others were challenging Bannister. John Landy was next to crash through the four-minute mark, running a 3:58 mile just two months after Bannister’s landmark race.

So, what was the next logical thing to take place? A showdown between Landy and Bannister. On August 7, the two went head-to- head. “The Mile of the Century,” it was called, and the world’s only two runners who had traveled that distance in less than four minutes faced off.

The gun sounded, and Bannister and Landy took off. At first, they ran together. As the race went into the final lap, Landy edged into the lead. Closer and closer the two drew toward the finish line. The leader, though, wondered where his opponent was. So he turned his head to look over his shoulder. As he did, Bannister blew past Landy and took the lead. He raced home with the title as the world’s fastest miler.

Landy later told a reporter, “If I hadn’t looked back, I would have won!”

Is it possible that we sometimes find ourselves in the same sit- uation John Landy was in? We are racing through life, eager to make an impact. But then we turn around to see what is behind us—what we’ve already passed. We lose our focus.

First Corinthians 9:24–27 tells us that discipline is the key to winning. And that discipline may mean that we let go of what is past and press ahead. In Philippians 3:12–13, the apostle Paul said, “I press on, . . . forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.”

As we think of next year, let’s keep in mind that God wants us to keep looking ahead, not dwelling on the past. Let’s press on.

What is it that you are living for? Is it for professional progress, personal glory, or personal possessions? Are you striving to be the best employee or the best athlete or the best “something else” that one day will mean nothing? What is life to you?

The apostle Paul stated his purpose in Philippians 1:21 when he said, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” I believe it was Paul’s desire and sole aim in life to glorify Jesus Christ in all that he did. Paul made it his purpose to imitate Christ and to emulate the humility, love, and compassion of Jesus. Paul desired and purposed to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. He wanted others to know of God’s love and gift of grace.

Paul had committed to make Jesus Christ his life. To him, Christ was life. What a legacy!

I was asked this question once, and I answered the question rather hurriedly, yet correctly. My response was, “To make an impact on this world, to change lives. We were not put here just to exist or to gain personal satisfaction from the many things of this world. But we were put here to be an extension of Christ.”

Before Jesus ascended into heaven shortly after His resurrection, He gave what we have come to call “The Great Commission.” It says that we were put here to continue what Christ started while on earth—to be ministers of God’s Word and to lead people to Christ throughout the world.

In 2001, the WNBA gave a T-shirt to all players that read, “The WNBA: This is who I am.” As athletes, many of us believe this slogan. We spend countless hours preparing our body and mind to meet next season’s athletic challenges, and that’s okay.

But what about us as Christians? We fail to spend twenty minutes a day getting connected with Christ to make sure we are prepared to meet life’s daily challenges. The sport world is so enticing that we forget that we are disciples first and athletes second. And we forget that our sport is not why God put us here, but it is the avenue He gave us to bring glory to Him through our play and our discipleship to others.

If you are an athlete, begin to use the platform God has given you as your place of ministry. Be an extension of Christ and fulfill His Great Commission. It’s the reason you are here.

Seabiscuit didn’t look like a champion. From birth, his trainers consid- ered him too small and nothing like his thoroughbred descendants. So he wasn’t given much of a chance to show his true potential. He lost his first 17 starts and was eventually trained to lose in order to bolster the confidence of other horses.

But that all changed when a new owner and trainer saw in him what no one else did. They saw his heart and gave him a second chance. Laura Hillenbrand, author of the book Seabiscuit, says, “He didn’t look the part, but you can’t see a horse’s heart by looking at its frame.”

The world may judge us by how we look, but God values what is in our heart (1 Samuel 16:7). Inside the heart of every Christian is an unveiled glory that is meant to be discovered and revealed. The Bible says that all Christians “reflect the Lord’s glory . . . with ever-increasing glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Find the glory of Christ in your heart and put it on display! No matter what you look like, you can be a winner for Him!

What enters your mind as your read these words, knowing that God hates these behaviors? Do you find yourself think- ing of times, perhaps even recently, when you did the very thing God abhors? It’s convicting that the Lord puts “shedding innocent blood” and spreading “dissension among brothers” in the same list. One clearly seems more heinously wrong than the other. But let’s focus on the seventh thing listed: spreading dissension among brothers. What does this mean? “Dissension,” which is translated “strife” in some Bible versions, is defined as “a bitter, sometimes violent conflict. An act of contention. Exertion for superiority.”

On a sports team, it could take the form of turning your teammates against another player so you’ll end up on top. Even if the argument or hard feelings only exist between you and the other person, everyone on your team feels the tension, and that is strife. Consider how you’re treating your teammates and the other people in your life. If you’re creating strife, ask the Lord for wisdom to behave differently and act on the guid- ance He gives you.

On Christmas Day 1980, I got a gift that I didn’t truly need. But WOW! was I excited to get it!

I got the first baseman’s mitt that I had wanted for so long. You see, this was no ordinary baseball glove. This was the one piece of equipment that would make me the best first baseman in all of Little League. This was the mitt I had begged my parents to get me for more than a year. And on December 25, 1980, the mitt was mine.

Looking back, the mitt was a great Christmas gift. It received more than its fair share of time “around the bag.” (Once, it even made the first two outs of a Little League triple play.) But as great a gift as my first baseman’s mitt was, it wasn’t something that I really needed. Rather, it was a gift I wanted.

This Christmas Day, consider receiving a gift that is far better than any gift you could ever want.

God is offering you the gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ. To receive it, simply confess your sin, ask God for His forgiveness, acknowledge Christ’s sacrifice on the cross as payment for your sin. Grab hold of the greatest gift ever—a relationship with God through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s a gift we all truly need.

• Mary Lou Retton’s “Vault Without Fault”

• Mark McGwire’s record-breaking 62nd home run.

Those are some of the greatest moments in the history of sports. If you were fortunate enough to witness one of these phenomenal events, you know you’ll never forget that thrilling moment. We still get chills when we see video of Mary Lou’s remarkable vault or when we hear Al Michaels exalt, “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!”

But no matter how awesome the sports moment, no “miracle” can ever compare to the truly supernatural miracle we celebrate each December 25.

On that stupendous day 2,000 years ago, in a little town called Bethlehem, a few shepherds were given a first-hand announcement of the greatest moment in the his- tory of the world—the birth of Jesus!

Since the Garden of Eden, God’s people had been waiting for the Messiah. For thousands of years, the prophets had predicted it. Finally the moment had arrived: “When the time had finally come, God sent his Son . . .” (Galatians 4:4).

What a mind-boggling experience for these shepherds! To be among the first to see the baby Jesus, God in the flesh! He had come to set us free from the bondage of sin and death—to reconcile us to God. He brought hope and peace and the promise of everlasting life. Now that’s a moment to celebrate!

Do you believe in miracles? There’s never been one like what happened on that first Christmas day.

In a similar situation, a college basketball team was mired in a losing season after six consecutive successful years and three visits to the NCAA tournament. Attendance was down and the alumni were howling. So the university fired the coach.

In both cases, good people were released because the organization needed a scapegoat. They focused the blame on one person, even though many were at fault.

That’s what happened to Jesus. The high priest Caiaphas, without knowing the full import of his words, said it would be best to sacrifice one man, Jesus. He thought it would save the nation from the oppressive Romans (John 11:47-50). What he didn’t realize was that Jesus was bearing the guilt and penalty for the sins of the world in fulfillment of the Old Testament picture of the two goats—one a sacrifice for sin, the other a scapegoat that symbolically carried their sins away (Leviticus 16).

We deserve eternal death. How grateful we can be that God made Jesus our scapegoat.

For more than a month, we traveled throughout the Philippines, playing more than thirty basketball games in front of large crowds of people. At halftime, we gave our testimonies of faith in Christ, we sang (as a singer, I was a good point guard), and we explained the gospel. After the game, we would go into the crowd and help people who had been led to pray to trust Jesus Christ as Savior.

As thrilling as that was, imagine the excitement that must have coursed through the hearts of the very first gospel team God ever sent out.

In Matthew 10, we read about the commissioning of the original twelve gospel-spreaders—a dozen hand-picked disciples who Christ Himself sent out to do His bidding.

Their work was ground-breaking and dangerous, for they were proclaiming a counterculture message. Yet they were equipped with the power of God as their main weapon.

Have you ever been involved in a gospel team? Opportunities abound to escape your comfort zone and touch a world that needs the countercultural message that Jesus saves.

God will give you the strength, the wisdom, and the power to succeed. Perhaps it’s time to step out and get involved in a gospel team.