In one scene the twenty-two-year-old Liddell explains his passion for running to his disapproving sister, who thought running was a waste of time compared to his calling to the mission field in China.
“Jenny, you’ve got to understand. I believe that God made me for a purpose: for China. But he also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure. To give it up would be to hold Him in contempt. To win is to honor Him. Oh Jenny, when I run, I feel His pleasure.”
As Liddell prepared for his big race, the 400-meters, he was given an anonymous note:
“It says in the Old Book, ‘Him that honors me, I will honor.’ Wishing you the best of success always.”
With this special bit of encouragement, he won gold.
In an interview afterwards, he said, “The first half, I run as fast as I can, and the second half, I run faster with God’s help.”
What you may not know is that after winning the gold Liddell went to China where his missionary work ended in a Japanese POW camp in 1944. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill negotiated his freedom from that camp, but he gave it up to allow a pregnant prisoner to be released. Liddell died a few months later at that camp.
Chariots of Fire ends with these brief words on the screen:
“Eric Liddell, missionary, died in occupied China at the end of World War II. All of Scotland mourned.”
Everyone has a calling. Os Guiness has said of our callings, “Instead of, ‘You are what you do,’ calling says: ‘Do what you are."
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