Learning From Past Mistakes

LEARNING FROM PAST MISTAKES can make any athlete—and any person—better. In 1994 at the Lillehammer Games, American skier Tommy Moe put his past behind him to surprise the world and win an Olympic gold medal.

Eight years before the Olympics, the U.S. national ski team had kicked a 16-year-old Moe off the squad for violating training rules. Angered by his son’s lax attitude, Moe’s father, an Alaskan building contractor, forced the teenager to spend the next summer working 12 hours a day on a remote Aleutian Island construction site. The humbling and difficult experience intensified the teen’s desire to become a world-class competitor.

Moe changed his ways and started working hard.

Despite achieving success on the junior circuit, Moe had no chance of a medal in the downhill, according to Sports Illustrated. The magazine categorized the entire men’s team as “a lead-footed snowplow brigade.”

On race day, Moe followed Norway’s Kjetil Andre Aamodt. The local favorite blistered the course in 1:45.79, three-tenths of a second faster than any earlier competitor.

The 23-year-old American took to the course and trailed Aamodt by a slim margin at the midway point. Spurred by his opponent’s strong showing, Moe sped down the slope and crossed the finish line at 1:45.75, becoming only the second United States skier to claim gold in an Olympic downhill.

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POINT No one doubted that Tommy Moe possessed talent. Skiing wasn’t his problem. His attitude was. He chose not to follow his coach’s command. Instead, the young man opted to go his own way. Moe’s way led to difficulty and defeat. When he listened to his coach and his father, the skier’s path turned to gold and glory.

The prophet Jeremiah applied that same principle to life. If we walk in God’s way and obey our heavenly Father, life will go well. Jeremiah didn’t mean that we will escape disappointment. But we will live well on God’s path.

GOAL! Think of a time when a coach or parent gave you some good advice or showed you a helpful tip. How did it help you perform? Did you do better and have success? Ask God to guide you to walk in his way.