The story of Roger Bannister is legendary in the annals of sports history. (Author's suggestion: Google, "Roger Bannister picture" and capture the Sports Illustrated cover there for your PowerPoint show.) On May 6, 1954, Bannister broke the four-minute mile barrier. People said it was humanly impossible to run a mile under four minutes. They thought we were incapable of covering that amount of distance in that amount of time.
The record Roger broke had stood for 9 full years. The record was 4:01.4, set by a Swedish runner named "Gunder Haegg," in 1945. They called him, "Gunder the wonder." Until Bannister, no one approached Gunder's time; no one threatened it. All but a few dreamers thought it couldn't be done. But 46 days after Bannister broke the four-minute barrier, an Australian lowered the record still further. Once Bannister proved it could be done, many others did it. Today, hundreds of runners have eclipsed four minutes. John Walker did it 129 times. Steve Scott did it 136 times. Bannister ran a 3:59. The record today is 3:43.
We are learning these days How to Fireproof Our Relationships. Most of us have difficulty doing things we've never seen or experienced before. So, throughout the rest of the messages in this series, I am going to give you practical tools and suggestions on how to be a better husband, wife, neighbor, and friend. But for this message, I want to point you to the source of good relational behavior. Like the sub-four-minute mile, many of us have missed out on an experience that God says is essential for the human soul: we've missed out on experiencing love at the deepest level. What you have not seen or experienced, you will not duplicate.