The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.
Psalm 28:7 NIV
Leaps
Caroline Ehrhardt is an eight-time national champion in women’s triple jump. As of July 2020, she owned the fourth-longest triple jump in Canadian history and is working towards her goal of being the first Canadian female triple jumper to ever qualify for the Olympic Games. When she was in grade 8, Ehrhardt’s father Klaus built her a backyard jumping pit, and from there her success in the event took off. As a junior-aged athlete, Ehrhardt broke the Canadian high school record and was a member of the World Youth and World Junior Championship teams.
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I have a friend who is a track and field fanatic. When he was young he competed at the national level and now he and his wife travel all over the world to be in the stands as the best in the world compete, and seldom miss the summer Olympics. The triple jump is my favourite track and field event – watching how far those athletes can leap is amazing. Whenever I read Psalm 28:7 I think of those athletes: “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.” The strength needed in the triple jump is something – the spiritual strength the Lord provides is something else again. He empowers us to live above the world and to walk in victory – to say no to temptation and yes to the promptings of the Holy Spirit as we keep our eyes on Jesus. No wonder the psalmist says that his heart leaps. So does ours as we trust in Him and He comes alongside us to help us live victoriously.
These have been words from the heart.
Bob Beasley