Sabbath Thought – Persistence

Sometimes a person can have great potential and not even realize it. Sometimes that potential can be challenged by major setbacks. For any individual, it is not necessarily potential or achievement that define them, but how they handle the setbacks that really matters.

In 1928, a young teenager made a big mark in the world of track and field. Her name was Betty Robinson. Her first official race was the 60-yard dash at an indoor meet. She placed second to (the then) U.S. record holder of the 100-meter race, Helen Filkey. Betty was only 16 at the time. She had been noticed by her high school Track and Field coach as she ran to catch a bus. A few months after Betty ran at the indoor meet, she participated in another meet running the 100 meters – this time beating Filkey and matching the world record.

Later that summer she participated in the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam and was the only U.S. athlete to qualify for the final round of the 100-meter race – again equaling the world record time of 12.2 seconds. That Olympics was the first that allowed women to participate in sprint races. Betty then became (and remains) the youngest woman to win a gold medal in the 100-meter race, as well as a silver medal which she won as a member of the American women’s 4x100-meter team.

Betty had a bright future ahead of her in the world of women’s sprint racing. But in June 1931 Betty was involved in a serious plane crash. She was thought dead at the scene, but she revived at the hospital as doctors were preparing her for a burial. She had suffered major injuries and was told that she would never be able to race again. She was determined to walk again, but it took her six months before she could get out of a wheelchair. It took another two years for her to walk normally. 

She was also determined to race again, and while she missed the 1932 Olympics (held in Los Angeles, U.S.A.), she started training for the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Despite her determination, she was unable to kneel properly for the start of any sprint race. However, she did qualify to be a member of the U.S. 4x100-meter women’s team, running the third “leg” of the relay. The German women were highly favored to win that year, but in the exchange for the third runner, the Germans dropped the baton, allowing Betty to gain such a lead that the U.S. women won the 4x100 meter Olympic race – giving her a second medal in that race, but this time a gold medal.

Setbacks can make us or break us. Many people have allowed adversity and trials to stop their success, while many others have refused to let adversity or trials define or limit their success. What about our calling? Jesus Christ tells us as His disciples we will face persecution (John 15:20). As Christians we will be hated (Matthew 10:22) and we would lose family (Matthew 19:29). Endurance is a key to the success of our calling (2 Thessalonians 1:4; 2 Timothy 4:5), because if we endure to “the end” then we are promised rulership with Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 2:12a).

Betty Robinson retired from racing after the 1936 Olympics, but she stayed active in women’s sports officiating events. Because of her success and later involvement in promoting women’s track and field, she was inducted into the USA National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1977, and in 1996 she carried the Olympic torch for the Atlanta Olympic Games.

We are “running” for a much bigger prize (1 Corinthians 9:24, 2 Timothy 4:7) – our race is for God’s Kingdom! Let us then run with endurance (Hebrews 12:1)

I wish you a very meaningful Sabbath,

Dan Dowd

12 July, 2025