In 1992 400m Sprinter Derek Redmond from Great Britain was in Barcelona ready to make his Olympic dream come true. Unable to compete four years earlier due to injury, he was determined to capitalise on a run of good health and good form. He ran a personal best time in the quarter-final to easily win his heat, and if he could produce a similar run in the semis, he would be on his way to an Olympic final.

However, about 250m into the semi-final, tragedy struck, as a tear in his right hamstring stopped him in his tracks and he fell to the ground in pain. His chances of winning an Olympic final and maybe even an Olympic medal were now over, but Derek was determined that what would turn out to be his last Olympic campaign would not end with the dreaded DNF next to his name (which stands for did not finish).

He forced himself to his feet, and began hobbling towards the finish line, with about 150m still left to go. As he made his way slowly towards the finish line, there came a figure bursting out from the crowd, brushing away officials and security guards alike, as he sprinted towards the track. Derek’s father, Jim, was determined that nothing would stop him from reaching his son. Together, they limped towards the finish line, Jim faithfully supporting his son Derek as Derek cried out from pain and grief, leaning on his father for support. As they crossed the finish line, the crowd of 65,000 people erupted with a standing ovation to show their support at the incredible display of strength, perseverance and love that they had just witnessed.

Unfortunately, Derek was officially disqualified for finishing with the assistance of another, but it was a mere technicality. Nobody could take that moment away from Derek and his father, and a legend was born there and then from an Olympic athlete who never won an Olympic medal but captured the hearts of millions of sports fans around the world. In the words of Derek himself, “I Finished Last, but I Finished.”

Today we will be exploring what it means to finish well, in a time where perseverance is often compromised by increasingly short attention spans and busier day-to-day lives.

A Message by David Bone

We understand that as people and as followers of Jesus, our decisions matter – they are important and we want to live life well and part of that means we need to learn to choose well. We make decisions and then, as we choose - our decisions make us. The challenge is many of us, we're not great decision-makers. Pre-deciding is focussing on intentionally selecting our values and attitudes and growing them so that they influence all our decisions. Instead of waiting until we are faced with those big crossroads choices, where we know there will be heightened emotion and stress, we decide now. That’s the concept of pre-deciding. And in this series, we are focussing on six statements, six choices that will help us become the kind of people who live life well.

A Message by Samantha Barlow

God is generous, and the Bible is full of examples of people, motivated by goodness, to emulate this - King David poured out gifts from the national
treasury and then from his personal reserves. A poor widow gave everything she had. A woman prepared a room for a traveling prophet. A group of impoverished Macedonians gave more than they dreamed they could.

This morning, we will examine Ruth’s loyalty and her own generosity
before she experienced God’s extravagant generosity through a close family relative of her mother-in-law Naomi. It is a beautiful story with God’s fingerprints all over it.

A message by Janet Dougherty