During an intercollegiate track meet between the vaunted Cambridge University and their star speedster Harold Abrahams and St. Andrews with Eric Liddell, the flying Scotsman, the tension is high. Abrahams is obsessed with winning for his own status and glory. Liddell, who will eventually go on to a life of sacrificial service as a missionary to China, uses his running to glorify God. When the two finally meet in a head-to-head race in 1930, Liddell beats Abrahams, who sinks into a deep despair and low self-image. He hires a coach named Sam Mussabini who analyzes his running style and that race in particular. The reason he lost to Liddell, according to Mussabini, was that Abrahams, ahead by a step approaching the tape, turns his head to the side to see where Liddell is. That slight movement – that hesitation – was all it took for him to lose the race.

I think of that lesson as I approach the end of yet another year. I feel like I am running strong, yet my natural inclination is to look back and see who or what might be sneaking up on my side. As a Christian, I realize it is important to learn from the past but not to dwell on it. In the race called faith, it is so much more important to look ahead and to keep one’s eye on the finish line and the prize that awaits.

I know people who are immobilized by the failures, disappointments and hardships of the past. But I also know those who seem to focus on their past accomplishments, victories and laurels as means of validating their value or importance. Both of these backward-looking styles are fruitless. You can’t go back and change what has happened or what you have done – whether it was for good or bad, shame or fame. All you can do is look ahead.

In the New Testament, Paul (formerly known as Saul) had accomplished a great deal as a zealous, religious Jew. His “pedigree” was spotless and his accomplishments matched it. But later in his life, he had learned an important lesson about life. He wrote these words to the Christians in Philippi: “forgetting what lies behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13, 14). The rest, he says, he counts as “loss” and is nothing really more than refuse to be thrown away into the trash (vss. 7-11).

What has your 2011 been like? If it has in any way paralleled mine, it has been a mixture of great accomplishments and major disappointments; profound joys and deep sorrows; some fulfilled and some unfulfilled expectations. I can’t go back and change any of that. Looking back would cause me to lose a step and be defeated like Harold Abrahams was. However, looking ahead and focusing on the new year with all its great opportunities, joys, adventures, relationships and opportunities helps me keep stride.

Whoever wrote the book of Hebrews (and it is open to no small amount of debate) was very wise when he wrote “…let us throw off everything that hinders us and the sin that so easily entangles us and let us run the race set before us with perseverance, keeping our eyes focused on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith…” (Hebrews 12:1, 2).

The 1929 Rose Bowl was perhaps the most famous college bowl game (or infamous) ever played. The Cal Bears were playing the Georgia Tech Bulldogs. In the first half, Roy Reigels of the Bears ran a recovered football all the way back to his own team’s goal line, ultimately resulting in a two-point safety for the Bulldogs and the one-point edge they would need to eventually win the game.

At halftime, Reigels, naturally distraught, sat by himself and had to be talked into returning to the field for the second half. Coach Howard Jones reminded him there was an entire second half to play. Reigels played an amazing second half, even though his team ended up losing 8-7. The point is that there is always a second half, the remainder of the race, another year, a second chance and a fresh new opportunity to accomplish something great. I pray that you will see 2012 as a year to strain forward toward the prize. Don’t look back. Keep moving ahead with faith, determination and effort and you will be rewarded.

May you have a happy and blessed New Year.

By Fred Davis, Calvary Presbyterian Church