What would you do if your coach asked you to do something in an important sports competition that you believed was not right?

 

Eric Liddell, our next hero of integrity, faced this dilemma. Eric Liddell was a Scottish athlete born in China to missionary parents. From the age of six he was sent to England to a boarding school and then to University in Scotland.

 

Eric excelled in athletics. He was a star rugby player. His plays were so fast and he covered so much ground that he was called “The Flying Scotsman.” But he wasn’t puffed up by his accomplishments. His is headmaster described him as being "entirely without vanity.”

 

Despite a good initial career in the Scotland National Rugby Team, Liddell was tempted to switch entirely to track and field. You see, his times in the 100m sprint were close to world class. With a bit more training, he might have a chance at the Olympics!

 

Eric trained hard. He made the British Olympic team. All his teammates and his coach were hoping he would win the 100m for them in Paris at the 1924 Olympics. But then Eric discovered a few short months before the race that he would have to run on a Sunday. He was a very devout Christian and it was against his conscience to run on the Lord’s Day.

 

Now he had a dilemma. Should he put personal principles aside and run for his country and his team, or should he stick to his conscience and do what he thought was right in the eyes of God?

 

Eric made a brave choice to skip the 100m race. Instead he was switched to the 400m race. He was not nearly as good at this longer distance.

 

On the day of the race, Eric Liddell lined up with other world-famous American and British runners. The Highland 51^st Brigade played the bagpipes as the runners got into start position.

 

Then, right before the race someone handed him a small piece of paper. It read "In the old book it says: 'He that honors me I will honor.' Wishing you the best of success always."

 

Eric recognized the reference to 1 Samuel 2:30 and was profoundly moved that someone other than his coach believed in him and the stance he had taken.

 

When the gun went off, Eric couldn’t see the runners behind him in the outside lane, so he ran as hard as he could, as if he were in a 100m dash. He kept going faster and faster around the first corner and then the next. He finished with a personal record, an Olympic record, and a world record time of 47.6 seconds.

 

Eric continued to compete for the next few months taking more running titles around the world. No matter what, he continued to be a man of humility and integrity.

 

In 1925 Eric gave up his incredibly successful athletic career to move back to China and continue his parents’ missionary work, where he worked as an English teacher to Chinese students.

 

In 1943, after World War II broke out, Liddell’s mission was over-run by Japanese soldiers. He was put in a prison camp. The conditions were appalling, yet Liddell still exhibited care for the other prisoners. One fellow prisoner, an American, wrote:

 

"Often in an evening I would see him bent over a chessboard or a model boat, or directing some sort of square dance – absorbed, weary and interested, pouring all of himself into this effort to capture the imagination of these penned-up youths. He was overflowing with good humor and love for life, and with enthusiasm and charm. It is rare indeed that a person has the good fortune to meet a saint, but he came as close to it as anyone I have ever known."