Eric Liddell's story...

I remember watching “Chariots of Fire” as a young teen. This film about runner Eric Liddell was so powerful I found myself in tears as he stood up for what he believed to be right. My eyes still get drippy when I hear the music from the movie's soundtrack.

Mission Frontiers magazine recently ran an article about Eric Liddell and his story. Here are some of the details they recounted...

• Liddell was born in China in 1902. His parents were Presbyterian missionaries there.
• He went to the U.K. at age six to go to school and later became a runner.
• Liddell struggled with whether or not his running interfered with his ministry.
• He once declined to participate in a heat that took place on a Sunday, because it went against his convictions about the Sabbath.
• The 1981 movie, Chariots of Fire, which introduced the world to Liddell, won four Academy Awards and is famous all around the world.
• Liddell set a world record time for the 400-yard dash. About this feat he said simply, "The secret of my success in the 400m is that I run the first 200m as fast as I can. Then, for the last 200m, with God’s help, I run faster."
• He was a 1924 Olympic champion.
• After the 1924 Olympics, he announced that he would return to China, following the footsteps of his father and older brother.
• Liddell decided to stay in China even after all foreign nationals were advised to leave during the Japanese Invasion. He sent his pregnant wife and two daughters to China. He never saw them again.
• He ended up in an internment camp where he continued his faithful ministry, teaching fellow prisoners not to hate their captors, but to love them and pray for them.
• An opportunity came for Liddell to be released in a POW exchange negotiated by Winston Churchill, but he refused to be exchanged, giving up his place to a pregnant woman.
• He died in the camp of a brain tumor, exhaustion and malnourishment on February 21, 1945, just five months before liberation.
• At his death, he was greatly honored and mourned both in the camp and in Scotland.

Liddell’s story is to be portrayed in a major motion picture again soon. The Flying Man is scheduled for release in late 2009 or early 2010. I will be in line to see it soon after its release.