Jesse Owens was the great star of the 1936 Munich Olympics. He broke three world records and carried off four gold medals.
In doing so he helped undermine the Nazi myth of Aryan Supremacy.
He went to Germany with the same faith in his heart as Eric Lidell had demonstrated in Paris 12 years earlier. Listen, however, to what Owens later wrote in his biography.
"When I was about to receive my gold medal for the long jump, I had an overwhelming urge to kneel down and thank God for His grace and help. Whether it was my fear of fellow athletes or what I don't know, but I resisted the urge."
Later, Owens returned to the States to fame and celebrity status and he no longer followed Christ. Indeed he took up smoking, smoked a pack a day for 35 years and finished bankrupt in his business.
Towards the end of his life he recovered his faith and said before his death these words:
"I had married, fathered a child, run faster and jumped further than any man in the world. I had gone to university and learned marvellous truths But I had not learned the one great truth that God never leaves us. We leave Him."
Well said Jesse.
Ian
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