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The Olympics are here! This past Friday, July 26, the 2024 Summer Olympics began.

I. Love. The. Olympics.

I love the competitions, the way all these nations come together to show who the greatest, strongest, fastest, skilled competitors are in each of their fields. I am awestruck and dumfounded watching these events. I love it so much. I even geared KCC’s VBS this summer around the Olympics, even added a 30 minute time for all groups to watch the Olympics together. Yeah…I enjoy it that much.

During these games stories arise that warm the heart and wow the crowd. One such story occurred during the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia is of Equatorial Guinean swimmer, Eric Moussambani Malonga, nicknamed Eric the Eel by the media, who won brief international fame for an extremely unlikely victory. During his swim, Eric set an Olympic record….for the slowest 100m freestyle swim of all time. I mean, there ain’t another slowest time even close. It was sad. However… he competed and arose from the pool to thunderous applause and support. THAT is what the Olympics are all about, y’all. In case you’re wondering…the Olympic 100m freestyle record is 47.02 held by Caeleb Dressel. Erics time…

1:52.72…1 minute 5.5 seconds slower than the Olympic record. Wow.

Slow. But…are you ready for this (he says with excitement)…Eric won his heat! Ha! Take that! You see, there were only 3 people in his heat and the other two swimmers had false starts knocking them out of that heat. Eric had the whole pool to himself. This man had never seen a 50m pool before. He had only started swimming 8 months before the Olympics and practiced in a lake or in a nearby hotel pool in Malabo between 5am and 6am when they’d allow him. Bless his heart, he was scared to death if you search and watch the video of this swim. After his two competitors had false starts you would think he would smile knowing he had this in the bag…but he looks scared for his life. Dude struggled the entire swim down and back. Folks were standing by ready to jump in and save him, but he finished the swim. Because of this occasion, there are now lifeguards at poolside just to be safe.

I love this story. What I love is that my man was scared to death but still stepped up and tried. We often run from fear. He dove in (literally). Isaiah 41:10 says “Fear not, for I am with you”. Whatever has you shook…keep swimming. The One you need most is right beside you until you cross the finish line.

Rev. J. Cameron Bailey is pastor of Kenbridge Christian Church. He can be reached at jamescameronbailey@gmail.com.