Imagine Screaming Down

IMAGINE SCREAMING DOWN an icy hill riding on a set of steel blades. Cowbells ring. People scream. The world whips past in a blur.

Bobsledders don’t have to imagine. They hop in their Plexiglas vehicles and zoom down a mountain of ice all the time. And some of the best bobsledders in the 2002 Winter Olympics turned out to be a squad of Americans.

Many believed that German and Swiss bobsled teams would dominate and that it would be impossible for the United States to earn a medal. But with two heats remaining on the competition’s final day, the team, captained by Texan Todd Hays, led the field by .09 seconds. A second American team with five-time Olympian Brian Shimer at the head appeared out of the running in fifth place.

In the third Olympic heat, the Germans took over first place, Hays’ squad faltered, and Shimer’s team moved into medal contention. As the final heat began, a cold front dropped the temperature 20 degrees.

The 39-year-old Shimer and his teammates, Mike Kohn, Doug Sharp, and Dan Steele, turned in the heat’s fastest time at 47.23 seconds. Hays, along with Randy Jones, Bill Schuffenhauer, and Garrett Hines pulled a 47.33 to remain in second place, ensuring the United States of both the silver and the bronze. It marked the first time since 1956 that Americans had claimed a bobsled medal.

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POINT “Unimaginable!” “Impossible!” Reporters used the words to describe the American medal performances. But the unimaginable happened, and the impossible became possible.

Jesus knew that with his Father, the improbable and impossible become possible. One day while Jesus walked the earth, a rich young man asked him how to have eternal life. When Jesus told him to give his possessions to the poor, the man went sadly away.

Christ then explained to his disciples that it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get to heaven. But he added that with God all things are possible.

GOAL! Read the story of the rich young ruler in Matthew 19:16-26. Praise God that with him all things are possible.