The Story of the Runner Who Lived for God’s Glory

The Secret of Eric Liddell’s Strength It is the summer of 1942, and Olympic runner Eric Liddell rises at 4:30 AM. Another scorching day lies ahead. Even in the shade, temperatures have climbed past 100 degrees. But Eric won’t let the heat stop him. He knows what he must do, and it will demand everything he has. Yet Eric isn’t preparing for a race. He’s far from the Paris Olympics where he’d won bronze and gold medals. That was 18 years and half a world away. This morning the 40-year-old missionary is in China—a nation where he had grown up in a missionary family, a land that’s now been invaded by Japan and thrown into the fires of World War II. Eric’s wife, Florence, and their three children aren’t with him. He had taken them to safety in Canada the year before. Now he’d returned to his homeland, to his place of ministry for the Lord. This was “the race . . . set before” him (Heb. 12:1). He usually rose at 5 AM. Staying with another missionary family, he got up early to buy that day’s bread for the household from a local bakery. In addition to his missionary work, Eric worked hard to serve his host family well. He did chores around the house, and he also took time with the children...