Affect Comes Before Effect – Part Ten
Alice Coachman was born in Albany, Georgia. As an aspiring athlete she faced two barriers in training to become an athlete: she was black and she was a woman. She ran shoeless on dirt roads and used makeshift equipment to work on her high jumping.
Her developmental years involved joining the high school track team before moving on to Tuskegee College. She also competed in the Amateur Athletic Union, and by 1946 she was the national champion in the 50- and 100-meter dashes, 400-meter relay and high jump. She also enrolled at Albany State College in 1946 after graduating from Tuskegee.
After World War II wiped out the 1940 and 1944 Olympics, Coachman finally got her chance to compete in 1948, high jumping an Olympic-record 5 feet, 6 1/8 inches to win her first gold in London and receive her medal in Wembley Stadium. She is in nine Halls of Fame, including the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame.
Coachman became the first black woman with an endorsement deal when the Coca-Cola Company signed her as a spokesperson in 1952.
Alice worked for years preparing herself physically, culturally, and spiritually while awaiting her moment. What a shame it would have been for her hour to have come only to find her not prepared. She said, “I’ve had that strong will, that oneness of purpose, all my life. … I just called upon myself and the Lord to let the best come through.”
W. A. Criswell was a diligent seminary student. After chapel there was a daily break. Most students went to the coffee shop, he went to the library. In response to appeals by fellow students to join them in the coffee shop he would often lightheartedly say, one of these days George Truett is going to retire at First Baptist Church in Dallas and I want to be ready. Little did he realize that day would actually come. It did, and it found Criswell ready.
There is an appeal with a promise in Isaiah 40: 31: “…those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength….”
It takes God time to get us ready for what He has in store for us. Give God time to be God.
In the interim there is promised a special provision for those who patiently wait on Him: “They shall mount up with wings like eagles.” This is a metaphor speaking of overcoming.
There is a plus, “They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” This speaks of endurance.
Do you have a dream, that is, an objective, a goal in mind?” We who do are always eager to obtain it. Prepare yourself that if an occasion arises making it ready for you, you will be ready for it.
“Wait on the Lord, run not before Him, and He shall direct your path.”
Affect always comes before effect.