The Impossible is Possible

When ESPN unveiled its SportsCentury list of the 100 greatest athletes of the 2oth Century, there were many outstanding performers honored. Among that list, though, one stood out as truly unique. Secretariat was the top name in horse racing, ranking No. 35 on the list.

Secretariat was a great champion, dominating his sport in a way that has not been seen since. Not only did he win the elusive Triple Crown, he did it in dominant fashion. In the final race, the Belmont Stakes, a race meant to break speed horses due to its grueling distance, Secretariat not only one, he dominated. His time and winning gap — 31 lengths — has never been approached. By any measure, Secretariat ranks as the greatest horse in racing history.

But that's only the beginning of his impossible story. The new film, released yesterday by Disney, chronicles not only the greatness of Secretariat but the impossible story of his birth, training, and rise to prominence. It's one of those inspiring stories that is tailor made for a Hollywood story, but it also happens to be true.

I was thinking about that, and about how that same idea could be applied to our faith. We serve the God of the impossible. Think about it. God gave a son to a couple well past the traditional age of child bearing (Abraham and Sarah); he gave Moses the power to part the Red Sea, allowing the Israelites to escape the Egyptians; he led a shepherd to become the greatest king in Israel's history (David); and he sent his son, perfect and blameless, to Earth to live among us and die for our salvation.

But somehow, it seems, now we often want to put God in a box. We've lost a bit of that sense of wonder, that ability to believe that the impossible is actually possible with God; but time and again he's shown it is. That probably helps explain some of the results of the survey in USA Today on Thursday regarding the nature of God.

Hopefully all true believers remember that, with God, all things are possible!