The word extraordinary means, “to go beyond the routine, the normal, the regular; to do something that is exceptional as a beautiful and memorable event.”
How did Jesus define extraordinary? “She did what she could.”
The Lord never judges anyone because he or she did not do what they could not do. Instead, he asks us to consider what we can do to share the most important thing in life. Love God and love others.
The story of Greek marathon runner, Stylianos Kyriakides, fascinates me. His extraordinary accomplishment was not easy; in fact, it seemed impossible.
His victorious race was the stuff of legends. He survived poverty, execution by hanging, starvation, and poor health to become the most famous runner in Greek history. His charitable efforts saved the lives of multitudes in his home country.
Here are the highlights of an extraordinary man’s life of doing what he could to help others.
Stelios trained himself in long distance running at his home island of Cyprus. A Greek champion marathoner, he represented his country in the 1936 Olympics held in Berlin, Germany. He finished a very respectable eleventh place, but the most important Olympic experience was a kindled friendship with U.S. runner, Johnny Kelley, who invited him to participate in the Boston Marathon.
The star Greek runner’s acceptance became a highly publicized spectacle in Boston largely due to two factors: the Greek origin of the marathon and the large community of Greek immigrants throughout the New England area. The high-profile runner received celebrity treatment everywhere he appeared. The press declared him the race favorite.
Stelios would not be crowned with the victor’s laurel wreath. Instead, he would be clothed in humiliation and shame in both America and Greece. He wore new shoes in the race, a gift from a supporter, which resulted in severe blisters on both feet. He limped to the side of the road, bloody and painfully sore. He quit!
Normally, that disappointment might be excused from an adoring crowd, but newspaper cameras caught him exiting the race in a taxi. The whole sports world was shocked! Stelios returned home branded a loser and worse, a quitter!
In the next years, Kyriakides barely survived the food shortage and bitterly cold weather during the German Nazi occupation which ravaged Greece in World War II. He miraculously escaped execution when all the men in his hometown were hanged in one night.
Stelios was spared because his passport was stamped with Hitler’s signature for his participation in the Berlin Olympics. The plight of the nation worsened from the Civil War which followed the end of the big war, as tens of thousands died from starvation.
Stelios believed there was a higher reason for why he had been saved from execution and starvation. He vowed to help the people of his ravaged homeland somehow, someway, someday. He decided to run in the Boston Marathon as a charity event to raise funds for the Greek people.
He had not run in six years. His wife feared for his life and begged him to reconsider his plan to torture his emaciated, untrained body in a race for his love of others.
Determined to make his life count for something which would outlast his earthly existence, Stelios sold their furniture to purchase a plane ticket to America. Few expected him to run a marathon, and no one predicted he might win the race.
His presence in Boston became front page news. However, the doctors refused to allow Stelios to run for fear he would die in the streets. His passionate persistence gained their reluctant permission.
That backdrop only added to his almost mythical race performance. He ran alongside Johnny Kelley for much of the race, pushing his racked body to its limits.
Near the end of the marathon, an old man shouted from the crowd, “For Greece, for your children!” inspiring Kyriakides to pull away and win the race in record time.
Kelley said of him, “It was like he had wings on his feet.”
In his hand, Stelios carried a note with the Spartan warrior battle motto, “Win or Die.” As he crossed the finish line in victory, years removed from his humiliating defeat, he shouted, “For Greece!”
Kyriakides persevered and triumphed not for personal gold or glory, but for the welfare of others. When an individual lives for a higher cause than just self, then he or she runs in the right direction with greater effort!
Kyriakides defeated the defending champion and set the best time in the world. It was also sixteen minutes faster than his personal best time. Extraordinary!
More importantly, the publicity of his improbable, but heroic Boston Marathon victory created great awareness of the horrible plight of his nation’s people. Stelios pleaded with Americans to love others. He returned to Greece with tons of donated food, medicine, clothing, and cash to help the famine-ravished people.
Kyriakides did what he could to help others he loved. That was the answer God expected when he asked Moses, “What is that in your hand?”
Every ability is a gift from God specifically designed for your life’s purpose. Use your God-given platform of influence to do good to others. Do not waste your time making excuses about what you do not have or wishing you were someone else. Envy and jealousy are cancerous cells, excuses to quit.
You do not need someone else’s platform to impact this world for good. Just be you and just do what you can.
The #1 Textbook records the response of a woman who answered the call to use her influence for good. It happened at a celebration of a man once socially isolated with leprosy, now at home, transformed by the love of Jesus.
The woman came into the room carrying a valuable jar of precious perfume. She broke the container and poured it over the head of Jesus. Her gift, valued at almost one year of income, might have been a family heirloom or safety net for financial emergency.
However, the lesson of her gift is not tied to its extreme importance or unbelievable extravagance.
This woman had purpose in what she did, because she paid attention to what was the most important thing in life. “God loved us so much that He gave” (#1 Textbook). She understood our love for God and others resembles His love when we are extravagant in our generosity.
The perfume was precious to this woman, and she gave it away in an act of love. What she did could not be undone. The sweet aroma and her story went everywhere, even remembered today.
When the woman in the Bible history lesson unselfishly gave her most precious possession to show love to someone else, Jesus proclaimed her action as extraordinary. The word extraordinary means, “to go beyond the routine, the normal, the regular; to do something that is exceptional as a beautiful and memorable event.”
How did Jesus define extraordinary? “She did what she could.”
WOW! WHAT IF YOU AND I JUST DID WHAT WE COULD DO TO LOVE OTHERS?
This woman held nothing back. Like Stelios, she went all in to make a difference. Life was not about herself, but about love for others. She did what she could.
What can you do? You can take your love to a higher level.
When you live for a higher cause than just yourself, then you run in the right direction with greater effort!
There are many needs in this world beyond our ability to help. You and I cannot solve all the world’s problems or feed all the world’s hungry people or eliminate worldwide poverty, or even do that in our cities. We cannot undo every injustice.
The Lord never judges anyone because he or she did not do what they could not do. Instead, He asks us to consider what we can do to share the most important thing in life.
What can you do? There are many hurting, lonely people near you. There are at-risk children to tutor and senior hearts to comfort in your neighborhood. Set your dreams high and depend on God’s help.
What can you do? You can take your love to a higher level. Help someone else.
You do not need someone else’s platform to impact this world for good.
JUST BE YOU AND DO WHAT YOU CAN DO TO LOVE GOD AND LOVE OTHERS.
Love always gives first. Love always gives most.
Love always does what it can. Extraordinary!
LOVE FIRST...LOVE MOST 