Until it was first achieved in 1954 by Roger Bannister it was commonly believed that the human body was simply incapable of running a mile in less than four minutes. Since then though, the feat has since been accomplished by many male athletes, and it has now become a standard of all professional distance runners to strive towards. Once runners knew it could be accomplished, and were able to look at exactly how Bannister had trained and learn from his techniques many others were able to accomplish it too. In fact in the years since the record was first broken, the many runners who have broken the record have also managed to shave another 17 seconds off of Bannister’s original time of 3’59.4″
I believe that one of the important roles the local Church plays is to allow people to see others accomplish things that they’ve believed to be impossible. Many in my generation have grown-up without having a successful marriage to look at and emulate, the church though offers incredible examples of people who’ve done it; people they can look to and learn from. There are men who grew-up without a father in their home, but in the church they can look to the example of some great and successful fathers. There are people who have been victims of abuse and believe they’ll never recover, but in the church they can see those who’ve overcome it… In many ways I believe the church is called to the standard-bearer for the culture at large. The place people can look to and see many of the things that are “impossible” are possible with God.
