Good morning and welcome to Starting Right . I am Danny Mac and I'm going to be here every Monday to Friday to help you get a great start to your day . So grab your cup of coffee , sit back and relax for the next five minutes as I help you start your day by starting right .
For many years , it was a widely held belief that no man could possibly run a mile in under four minutes . That was until May of 1954 , when Roger Bannister became the first person to actually ever do that .
But a month later after he did it Australian John Landy he took another 1.4 seconds off of Bannister's record , as he also ran the mile in under four minutes . Once these two men had accomplished this feat , a showdown was inevitable , and in August of that year the two men met in Vancouver , canada .
The race began and these two gentlemen soon were at the lead , leaving the rest of the pack far behind . Landy broke out into the lead and seemed to be holding it . It looked for sure that he was going to win .
As they got close to the finish line , landy could not resist the urge to look and see how close Bannister was behind him , and as he looked over his shoulder he lost his stride and Bannister took the lead and won the race . Afterwards , landy said if I hadn't looked back , I would have won . Isn't that a great thought ?
If I hadn't looked back , I would have won . How much time do we spend looking back and it's keeping us from moving forward ? There are so many things that we look back at . We want to remember how good it used to be . We want to remember what was . We want to live sometimes in the victories and the joys of the past . But we can't do that .
Neither can we look at the past , the mistakes that we made . We can't live in that way . We need to consistently be able to move ahead and not look back if we're ever going to win this race that we have set before us . In Luke , chapter 19 , verse 62 , jesus talked about it in terms of our walk with God .
He said why do you keep looking backward to your past and have second thoughts about following me when you turn back ? You are useless to God's kingdom realm . Ecclesiastes , chapter 7 and verse 10 , it says don't long for the good old days . That is not wise . We say well , why not ? Those memories were good .
I don't believe that God wants us to forget the good things of the past or forget the lessons we learned in the negative things of the past . But the truth he has for us comes from 2 Corinthians 5 , verse 17 . Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person . The old life is gone . A new life has begun .
We have moved into this new relationship where God is moving us ahead and leading us in the direction that we are going to go for the rest of our lives . He is opening up new doorways for us . He's opening up new opportunities . God has not stopped showing himself to any of us .
He's not stopped directing our lives , and his purpose for our lives is never completely fulfilled as long as we are still on this planet . Do you know that God's still got plans for you ? Do you believe and know that God still wants to work in you and to use you ?
Do you know that there are still people that you can impact through the love you show them and your ability to be obedient to Christ in your walk with Him ? God has got plans for you . He doesn't want you to look back and say , oh , I wish it was like it was , or oh , I can't because of what's back there .
He wants you to look ahead , to experience the fullness that he has for you every moment that you live on this earth . I fully believe deep down in my knower . I know in my knower that God is not finished with anyone as long as we're here .
I know in my knower that God still wants to work in all of us , that God still wants to lead all of us , that God still wants to give us great joy in the victories we have and we see and the impact we have in people around us . I know I've said it before and I say it often , but those people are still there .
There's people around us in whose lives we can make a difference today , whether it be a simple word of encouragement or a phone call or a card or a letter or an email , or simply just calling them up and saying , hey , how are you doing ? There's people around you that you can make a difference for and in .
So today , my friends , let's be people that look ahead , not behind . Let's look ahead at the opportunities that God has for us and not be caught looking back and miss the opportunities that are in front of us . Be blessed , my friends . Have a great day . We will talk again tomorrow .
Thank you for listening today and I invite you to join me Monday to Friday , right here on Starting Right with Danny Mac .