Page 28 - Dainfern Precinct_Issue 4_2022

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

WATCH WHERE

YOU ARE GOING

BY PETER STOFFBERG

ere’s some interesting trivia. What weird thing In
do Plennie L. Wingo, Anthony Thornton and
HAshrita Furman have in common? They’re all
American men who hold world records for walking,
but that isn’t particularly strange in itself. Plennie
walked 12 875km from Santa Monica in the USA
to Istanbul in Turkey. Anthony walked 153.52 km
in 24 hours, and Ashrita walked the fastest mile on
stilts. That’s all unusual, but what makes them really
weird is that they chose to achieve their records
walking backwards.

Facing one way and moving in the other direction is
challenging for several reasons, not least of which is
the high likelihood of walking into stuff. Brief research
into these gentlemen didn’t yield any statistics
relating to collisions during training or their eventual
record attempts, but it’s possible that such incidents
happened regularly.

Our bodies are designed to move forward. The
way our legs, arms and spine bend are clear
indicators of this. Walking backwards is therefore
far from optimal and carries with it the inevitable
notion of pointlessness.

So why would anyone choose to do something so
painful and pointless? It’s impossible to know for
sure but perhaps they’re motivated by a need for ON SITE SUNDAY SERVICES @ 9h30
purpose and identity. Maybe that’s why Ashrita has
set more than 500 other world records. He is no www.familychurch.online
longer Ashrita the health store manager, he’s the DAINFERN COLLEGE AUDITORIUM
guy who holds the world record for achieving the
most world records. (Seriously, he does).
In Phillipians 3 in the Bible we read, “Forgetting
the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I
Are these feats an attempt at establishing a way to press on to reach the end of the race and receive
be recognised and remembered? Quite possibly, the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ
since every one of us needs to know that we matter Jesus, is calling us”. The author’s divinely inspired
and that our lives matter. Without a sense of purpose, reason for living is to become more like Jesus, and
there’s no motivation to do our best. We would be to influence the lives of others as He did, for the
left with only a dull, depressing cycle of survival. glory of God our Father, and in gratitude for the
Thankfully, though, there’s a better way of realising way that He loves us.
our value, and it doesn’t involve looking back.

Ironically, real purpose and identity don’t come
from looking back. Looking back focuses on past
failure. It doesn’t help us deal with the present, and
it robs us of the future. Trusting in Christ’s mercy
and forgiveness helps us put the past behind
us and look forward to the perfected, promised
relationship with our Heavenly Father.

It may be painful at times, but it’s anything but
pointless. It’s true identity and real purpose.

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