The Front Porch of the Psalms

And before we jump in and read, something to orient us to our text tonight. The New York Times bestseller, The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown, is the story of the rowing team at the University of Washington in Seattle and their quest for gold at the 1936 Olympics, which took place in Berlin, Germany. And it’s these college guys from working and middle-class families, the sons of loggers, the sons of farmers, these college guys who beat the odds in the most desperate of times, on the heels of the Great Depression and just before WWII. It’s the story of how they beat the odds. And they rowed their way into Berlin, into the Olympics; they raced in front of Hitler and the Nazis and 75,000 Germans. And after the Germans dominated on the water winning five gold medals and one silver in the six races preceding the 8-oar final, the 8-man competition at the end, these college guys beat the favorites. They beat the Germans on their home turf and they won gold.

And before we jump in and read, something to orient us to our text tonight. The New York Times bestseller, The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown, is the story of the rowing team at the University of Washington in Seattle and their quest for gold at the 1936 Olympics, which took place in Berlin, Germany. And it’s these college guys from working and middle-class families, the sons of loggers, the sons of farmers, these college guys who beat the odds in the most desperate of times, on the heels of the Great Depression and just before WWII. It’s the story of how they beat the odds. And they rowed their way into Berlin, into the Olympics; they raced in front of Hitler and the Nazis and 75,000 Germans. And after the Germans dominated on the water winning five gold medals and one silver in the six races preceding the 8-oar final, the 8-man competition at the end, these college guys beat the favorites. They beat the Germans on their home turf and they won gold.