MK Gantt Ministries

The following is from the Preface of my book, OVER AND ABOVE, Pursuing a Life of Excellence. The book and study guide are available on AMAZON and at my online BOOKSTORE.

Seven-year-old Glenn Cunningham went to the one room schoolhouse with his older brother Floyd to fire up the wood stove. As he did every morning, Floyd would pour kerosene over the dry wood to help start the fire. Unknown to Fred, the kerosene in the can had been replaced with gasoline, and lying in the bottom of the stove were hot coals remaining from the day before. The results were catastrophic.

Horrified classmates arrived to find the small building engulfed in flames. They found Floyd, the ashes of his clothing still clinging to his burned body, trying to drag the unconscious Glenn from the school. The lower half of Glenn’s body was burnt as he lay in a nearby hospital, his family watching over him, waiting for him to die. Floyd had already died as a result of his injuries.

The words from attending doctors was heartbreaking. In all likelihood, Glenn would die. If he didn’t die, he would never walk again. If infection set in, he would lose both legs. The future was grim for little Glenn Cunningham.

But Glenn was determined to walk. He didn’t care what the doctors said. He wanted to walk, even though he screamed in excruciating pain when he simply tried to stand on his badly scarred legs. Often, his mother would wheel him into the yard for fresh air. Poor fellow.

Throughout his life, two prominent marks of Glenn’s character were his persistent positive attitude and his strong Christian faith. One day, Glenn managed to get himself out of the wheelchair and onto the ground. Facedown, he grabbed handfuls of grass and dragged his tortured legs across the yard until he reached the fence line at the back of the house. Screaming as he did, the boy grabbed hold of the fence and pulled himself to a standing position. 

Day after day, the boy would throw himself out of his chair and onto the ground. He would drag his useless limbs across the yard to the fence and pull himself to a standing position. Using the fence for balance he willed his legs to move until he began taking small, painful steps. With his mother’s steady encouragement and a will of iron forged in the fires of adversity, Glenn finally took his first, halting steps. GlennCunningham had beaten the odds. He was walking.

Gradually, his walking became easier, though it remained incredibly painful. Then Glenn realized he could run. And, he discovered that running was less painful than walking. From that time forward, Glenn ran everywhere he went. After five years, when he was twelve years old, Glenn returned to school and began to enter school races. The boy who would not live. The boy who would never walk . . . learned to run. When he ran, he beat every competitor, and as an adult, thrilled racing fans around the world.

At the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Glenn Cunningham raced on bruised and battered, fire-ravaged legs, and stunned the world by winning the silver medal in the 1500 meter event. Glenn ran the mile for a world record of 4:04:2 in 1934. He held world records in the 800 meter and the indoor mile. Until Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile in 1954, Glenn Cunningham was the fastest man in the world.

Glenn Cunningham’s will of iron and his unwavering faith in God propelled him to do what everyone said could not be done. His favorite verse of Scripture was Isaiah 40:31: “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.“