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A time of fun, fellowship, and prayer amongst yourIronman Competitors and the local community |
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Presented by
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A time of fun, fellowship, and prayer amongst yourIronman Competitors and the local community |
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Presented by
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8/26/05 IM Canada
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Excerpts from Ironman Canada Story by Darren Roorda:
The last thing to do before I went to sleep was mark my body using a permanent marker with Hebrews 12:1. It had become my theme verse since early in my triathlon days when Beverly had bought me a t-shirt which had ‘Triathlete’ emblazoned across the front with the words Pray, Worship, Witness and corresponding pictures below. Hebrews 12:1 was referenced as the biblical connection on the shirt. Hebrews 12:1 reads “Therefore, let us throw off everything that hinders, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” It was the same verse I used to preach on Thursday night during the Iron Prayer meeting held in a park outdoors for the athletes and their families who wished to focus their efforts on God for this Ironman competition. It has become important to me in that it reminds me that despite my race time and competition, it is my real life challenge to witness or look for God at all times in all things – to witness Him and his work during things as highly focused and competitive as Ironman....
(The Race) Turning through the bend on McLean Creek Road, I began to ascend this short but steep hill. And as I passed through the bend, there they were. About 15 cyclists pulled over -changing flats! Something strange was going on. I stood up to maintain some power through this short steep hill and felt unusually slow, that it was getting too hard to push this bike. I looked back at my rear wheel, thinking it may have moved and would now be rubbing against my frame (a problem I had in a couple of other races) and realized that that was not the problem. Instead, my tire was going flat!
Extremely disappointed, I pulled over toward the throngs of other debilitated cyclists on the roadside. The great pack I was riding with continued up the hill and another rider who was finishing up his repair shouted out to me “Check for tacks!” “Tax?, oh…Tacks” I sorted out in my mind. “TACKS! WHAT! Who would do that?” I took off my wheel, spun it around and sure enough there was a slim, shiny, ˝ inch nail piercing right through my brand new tire and into my tube. I took it out and threw it into the woods. Fortunately, I had brought 2 new spare tubes with me.
As I began to change my tire, I looked up and saw the literally hundreds of cyclists that passed me by. That was discouraging. After such a strong swim and riding with a great group of riders, I was now losing my spot. I tried not to be discouraged and thought that it would all work out alright since I had a strong swim and had made up some time there. I saw other riders also forced to pull over because of tacks too and go through the same disappointment. Nonetheless, I felt strong and felt that this small inconvenience was not a big deal. As Romans 5:3 says: We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us—they help us learn to endure. 4 And endurance develops strength of character in us.[1] At about the 10 minute mark of my tire change, one biker whom I recognized from the Iron Prayer service I preached at on Friday for the athletes and their families, rode by and said “don’t be discouraged Darren, lots of time left!” That was a gracious word!
...I enjoyed the run thus far and looked forward to turning the corner onto Main Street where I thought I would find my family!
Sure enough, 50 yards up the road, there was my family! They looked so beautiful. In the vein of enjoying the race, I was not about to cruise past them. I wanted to be with them, enjoy their encouragement, give them a kiss and also to unload on them. I also had to give them my bike gloves which I had left on by mistake. I told them why my bike ride took so long. They had been worried. I gave them all a smooch (noticing that some of my daughters did not want to kiss such a smelly, sweat stained and sloppy looking Father). I spoke briefly with my friends the Odegaards and John Kemper who were also there and had been so very patient and then I took off running. I looked at my watch and as I took off down the road I shouted back to them “Don’t bother hanging around here, you might as well be at the finish line at say…9:30 p.m.” I was suspecting I was going to have to walk and was looking at a 5:30 hour marathon. Under normal conditions, this would be a terrible marathon pace, but considering that you're being asked to run it after a 2.4 mile swim and a 112 mile bike, this would satisfy me and ensure I crossed over the finish line well before the midnight cutoff.
Good to see my lovees. Notice the custom made shirts and hats along
with the cheering sticks they have. They have waited hours just for this
time to see me, and I have longingly been waiting for them too.
I set off down the road another 500 meters and there sitting on the curb was a young Christian couple I had met during the Iron Prayer service I took part in. They noticed me and yelled out “Darren, it’s you!” I told them a little bit of what I had been through as I ran past them and she spoke loudly to me “God is still good though!” I yelled out back to her with a joy that I could hardly contain “Darn Right, GOD IS STILL GOOD!” I was fully in love with God, fully in love with life and fully in love with this race.
...Despite all the obstacles and difficulties I had gone through, I know that God was watching over me. I experienced Him in the encouragement of other athletes and from the helping hands of dozens of volunteers in the Iron Army. I experienced Him in being spared from certain death during my crash as I slid into the middle of the roadway – a busier road which had had a frequent amount of car and truck traffic – just not at the time of my crash. I had experienced Him in the clarity of my purpose immediately after the crash. I had experienced His presence in the loving notes and encouragement from my family and friends during the race. In the great work of skilled hands of the ART guys who worked on my back and knees during Ironman week, in the lack of cramps and the continuous feeling of strength at all times, in the relief of a cool mist from a kind neighbor's hose during the run, in the adaptability of my body to change based upon the strain I put upon it in training, in the graciousness of my friends the Odegaards, Sam Tjoelker and Justin Trinka who drove all the way up to Penticton to support me or the friends who found us an RV to borrow for the week, in the beautiful weather He provided and the lack of exhaustion the heat caused my body, and the wonderful scenery of mountains, vineyards and lakes throughout the course. I could go on and on, and on and on. All of these things are evidence of the gifts the God. I was given the opportunity to witness them, experience them. I was witness to many of gifts of God which ultimately lead me to witnessing (a judicial term) the overwhelming evidence that there is a God who loves us and looks over us like Jesus on that race course church. This is the kind of overwhelming evidence that supports a God who is loving enough to send His own Son into the world in order to save us. Jesus.
Jesus did not come to take away each and every problem. Not for now anyway. That will come in the future. For now, life will still consist of flat tires, crashes and bee stings in one form or another. But in and through that suffering we are able to see God more clearly I believe. It is the message of the Bible, the message of my ‘Triathlete’ t-shirt my wife had long ago bought me referencing Hebrews 12:1, and it was the very message I preached at the open air Iron Prayer service to the athletes and their families who were present there that Friday afternoon using the same text. I encouraged all of them to look for, to be witnesses of, the evidence of God throughout the race. I think it is our duty and pleasure in life to be such witnesses. I was such a witness on that 28th day of August, 2005. Thank you God.
