DoublePortion_October2023_8.5x5.5_REV.indd

9 Up in a Whirlwind

“And Elijah saw him no more” (2 Kings 2:12).

********

W hen considering Academy Award winning films over the past half century, Chariots of Fire ranks among the best.Winner of four Oscars in 1982, including best picture, the movie depicts two British runners who participated in the 1924 Olympics in Paris. Eric Liddell, played by Ian Charlesson, is a de vout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God.The role of Harold Abrahams, an English Jew running to overcome prejudice, is played by Ben Cross. The film’s title comes from “Bring me my chariot of fire,” a line from theWilliam Blake poem Jerusalem . Of course, the phrase appears originally in the biblical account of the prophet Elijah being transported to paradise by a flaming coach. As we carefully explore the text in which this term first appeared, 2 Kings 2:1-15, see first the uncommon relationship that existed between Elijah and Elisha. By this point, they had obviously ministered side by side for some time, a mentor/mentee partnership

51