A new Miracle on Ice?

Thirty years ago in Lake Placid, the United States Men's hockey team came out of nowhere to win the Olympic gold before home fans at Lake Placid. Today, it almost happened again. No matter who you were rooting for, you'd have to agree today's gold medal match was an instant classic.

Coming into these winter games, Canada made the bold statement they planned to "own the podium." In other words, they were gunning for the overall medal lead on home soil. But, if they couldn't do that, they at least needed to win the Men's Hockey gold, their national sport. Last Sunday, it didn't look like either would happen.

After a week of watching the Americans dominate, often at the expense of the Canadian competitors, Team Canada and Team USA faced off in a preliminary battle on the ice. Team USA won, 5-3, and a nation was in shock. According to reports, downtown Vancouver, which had been jubilant for more than a week, was like a ghost town. It seemed disaster was what these games had wrought.

But the Canadian athletes waited, and grew in strength. As these games close, Canada claimed 14 gold medals — their most ever — and took third in the overall medal race. Most importantly to Canadians, however, was the perseverance of the Canadian Men's Hockey Team, which took the harder road and earned a re-match with Team USA in the gold medal finals.

After getting out to a fast start, the Canadians watched Team USA rally. With 24 seconds left, Team USA struck again, tying the game at 2-2. But ever patient, the Canadians waited for their moment again, and it finally came. In overtime, Canada's brightest star — Sydney Crosby — finally got his moment, slapping the puck into the net in front of the home fans to give his country it's own Miracle on Ice.

Of course it's not quite the same. This Canadian team was tapped to win and both teams in the finals were chocked full of professionals. But the effort and patience required to claim gold were impressive.

The same was true of the United States team in 1980. One of my favorite scenes in the 2004 movie "Miracle," based on that team's efforts, came early during training. Coach Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell) pushed his team relentlessly. They pushed past the breaking point and found a new reserve of energy within themselves. It was that training effort that helped provide the strength to endure in the gold medal battle with the Russians.

In our spiritual lives it's God that provides the extra energy when we've reached the end. When we're at our breaking point, God is there to lift us up and push us to new heights. That's what Isaiah 40:31 is all about, "but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

Through the Gold series Graham has talked about how we can reach the ultimate prize in our spiritual life. We have to forget what is behind and focus on what's ahead, we have to run the race with others, and we have to wait on the Lord, who will renew our strength.

When I was thinking of that as a whole, the first thing that came to mind was a scene from the first season of the TV series "Friday Night Lights." In the pilot episode, the team's star player, quarterback Jason Street, was injured, seriously damaging the team's chances of winning a coveted state title. Soon, the other stars on the team began to think they could do it on their own and the team began to fracture. Coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler) decided to act.

In the middle of the night, Coach Taylor put the team on the bus in the driving rain and brought them to the middle of nowhere to run suicide sprints up hill. He exhorted his team to forget what had happened, to forget their vision of what the season could be and to put aside personal agendas. Instead, he pushed them to run, and run, and run. Pushed past the point of fatigue, soaking wet, the team neared the breaking point.

As it looked like they might lose the will to continue, running back Smash Williams (Gaius Charles) raised up and began the chant that had come to define the Panther's mindset, "Clear eyes, full heart, can't lose." The Panthers continued to run that night, and as fans of the series know, they continued to run all the way to the title.

Really, that battle cry works pretty well for our walk as well. With clear eyes, focused on running the race set before us, and full hearts, that are joined with the body of Christ, we can't lose, because we serve the Everlasting God who never fails and never grows weary.