Photo: Enigma Sports

If I had to choose between my wife and my putter... well, I’d miss her.

Gary Player

The prize

As sportspeople we understand “the prize”. It may be what motivates us to get out of bed in the morning or to do that extra rep in training. I am struck when I interview athletes how often people remember in great detail the first prize they ever won. Prizes matter. At whatever level you compete, winning the prize matters.

It takes effort to win the prize. Paul talks about pressing on. The phrase has a sense of effort, of straining, of putting in effort. How often prizes are won at the last minute?

When Chaunte Lowe won the high jump at the 2012 World Indoor championships she described it as “tough”. As she prayed about it, “The word that came into my heart was ‘fight, just fight’. And going into that last height, I was not in medal contention. I was in 5th place. And I thought, if I clear this, at least it gives me a chance to get back on the podium. But with two days, back to back it was tough. I am just glad I was able to get on top”.

Many of us can empathize with that from our own sports experience, a game or competition which was particularly tough. That makes winning the prize all the more satisfying.

When the prize we are fighting for is eternity with Jesus Christ, how much more should we make it our priority and put in the effort.

Weekly sports email