Summary

Paralympic Games Word on the Week 24th August 2024.

Following hard on the heels of the highly successful Paris Olympic Games we have Games with a different sort of inspiration. Instead of a demonstration of excellence where perfectly tuned bodies compete we have competitors who have had to cope with the handicap of an out of tune body in the Paralympics.
Held in the same place in Paris the Paralympics would be in danger of being over shone by the Olympics were it not for the wonderful courage the competitors demonstrate in overcoming their disabilities. These games bear testimony to the triumph of human courage in dealing with adversity.
It started as the Stoke Mandeville Games for disabled war veterans. These arose from the work of rehabilitating war wounded in Stoke Mandeville hospital. There Dr Guttmann, a specialist in spinal injuries, was a firm believer that sport was a major method of therapy, helping those with injuries to rebuild strength and self-respect.
Preparations for the first post-war Olympics in 1948 in London inspired Guttmann to organise the first Stoke Mandeville Games for disabled war veterans on the opening day of the Games, 28 July 1948. They continued in step with the Olympics until 1960 when the now ‘International’ Stoke Mandeville Games were held alongside the official XVII Olympiad.
This realised Guttmann’s dream to create an elite sports competition for people with disabilities, equivalent to the Olympic Games. Now no longer open solely to war veterans, four hundred athletes from 23 countries competed in these 1960 Games.
The Christian too bears a torch. Not one that has to be shielded in case it blows out but one that burns brighter as the Day approaches. We too operate before a multitude who are silently cheering us on to victory.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and the sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews Chapter 12 verses 1 – 2).
Run to Jesus and when you have received Him – run for Him! (John 1 Verse 12 & Hebrews 12 verses 1 to 3).