Jim Thorpe was born on this day in 1888.

Considered by many to be the greatest athlete of his time, Jim Thorpe was born in a one-room cabin in what’s now Oklahoma. Thorpe was the great-great-grandson of an Indian warrior and athlete, Chief Black Hawk. He excelled at every sport he ever played.

Thorpe played football, baseball, and basketball, and he trained for the 1912 Olympics in track. He won gold medals in both the decathlon and pentathlon events at the Stockholm Olympics, but he was stripped of those medals when a sports reporter revealed that Thorpe had played semi-professional baseball as a youth. It wasn’t until after his death that Thorpe’s amateur status as an athlete was restored and his name reentered in the Olympic record book.

Earthly prizes are like that. Someone can take them away if the rules aren’t followed or if a mistake is made. They can get lost or stolen. They can collect dust on your shelf, or get shuffled into a corner in the back of your closet. Sometimes we win a prize that we want to hold on to, but those trophies and ribbons we’ve won for swim team, soccer, and other sports soon fade away.

Thankfully, those aren’t the only types of prizes that we will receive. As a follower of Jesus, one day when you are in heaven, you will receive an eternal prize. That’s right—a prize that will never fade, collect dust, or get lost, given to us by Jesus himself. And how do we win that prize? Not by running the fastest or scoring the most points or even doing the most good deeds. It’s a prize that goes to all who train themselves daily to walk in faith through prayer, Bible reading, and obedience to God.

How’s your training going?

All athletes practice strict self-control. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize (1 Corinthians 9:25).

To Do

Make a daily “training” schedule for yourself of what you will do to keep your faith in shape. Include time for prayer, Bible reading, and praising God.

Also on this day . . .

1805—Napoleon was crowned in Milan, Italy.

1929—Warner Brothers debuted “On With the Show” in New York City. It was the first all-color talking picture.

1934—The Dionne quintuplets were born near Callender, Ontario, to Olivia and Elzire Dionne. The babies were the first quintuplets to survive infancy.

1998—Using photos taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, Dr. Susan Terebey discovered a planet outside of our solar system.

From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005). Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.