He's not Heavy, He's my Brother

Galatians 6:2 (KJV)
2  Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

Galatians 6:5 (KJV)
5  For every man shall bear his own burden.

The triathlon is a grueling test of one’s mental and physical endurance; couple that together with the added weight of another person who is unable to help themselves; and the challenge becomes even greater. 

Fifty one years ago, and child was born to the Hoyt family.  During birth, his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck cutting off the blood supply to his brain.  This misfortune damaged his brain affecting his arms, legs and speech.  The Doctors suggested they put the child in an institution; he would be nothing more than a vegetable the rest of his life.  The Hoyt’s refused to heed the doctor’s advice and raised him like a normal child along with his two younger brothers.
While in middle school, he attended a college basketball game.  During the game, an announcement was made of a student who had been in an accident and was paralyzed from the waist down.  A charity road race was being organized to help pay for the student’s medical bills.  This sparked a longing in his life to help others.  He came home that day and said to his dad, “Dad, I have to do something for him.  I want to let him know that life goes on even though he’s paralyzed.  I want to run in the race.”  Thus began the “Hoyt Team.”

Rick and his father are known mostly for the triathlons they compete in together.  His father would cradle Rick in his arms and run toward a small inflatable boat, place him securely in the craft, enter the water and strap on a harness that was tethered to the front of the boat and begin his 2.4 mile swim with son in tow.  Upon completion of the first event, Dick would gather his son and make his way to a modified bike and both would start their 112 mile journey to the next part of the competition.  The final leg of the triathlon would end with a 26.2 mile run as Dick would push his son in a wheel chair the entire distance.  Both crossed the finish line in rousing victory.  Rick and his father Dick Hoyt have completed 1,091 race events of which 252 were triathlons. 

Rick’s father bore the burden of his son while at the same time bearing his own.  Both were competing in the same race.  Both crossed the same finish line, but one needed help from the other.  It’s important to remember; even though we have to bear our own burdens in life, there are those who need our help along the way.  Child of God, let’s not forget who’s side we’re on, help one another.

Quote:
“There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.”
 John Holmes

Recommended Reading: Galatians 6:1-6

By Louis Edwards

Information about Rick and Dick Hoyt was found at: www.today.com.

Against all Odds

Hebrews 12:1

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

Melissa Stockwell, a U.S. Army Purple Heart recipient, lost her leg when a roadside bomb exploded during a convoy in 2004.  Instead of giving up on life, after much physical therapy, she trained for the 2008 Paralympic Games for the U.S. team.  Her determination became evident when she became the record holder for the 100 meter butterfly and the 100 meter freestyle.  She said, “I can really do anything I want to do, missing leg or not.”

Other athletes like Anthony Robles, born without a leg became the NCAA wrestling champion for the 125 –pound class.  Legally blind Twenty-four old, Im Dong-Hyun, won two Olympic gold medals in archery.  Carrie Johnson, battling an autoimmune disorder that at times causes pain, fatigue, and weight loss is competing for the third time in the sprint canoeing event for the Olympic Games.  She refuses to let Crohn’s disease hold her back. 

Just as some athletes face physical limitations; we too as God’s child experience difficulties or sin that would hinder us from becoming His star achievers.  In the passage He instructs us to: …lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us.  (Heb. 12:1)  We’re to put aside the failures of the past, quit carrying around the past sin that He no longer remembers.  He said, As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. (Ps. 103:12).  If He has forgotten our sin, why should we dig up old bones?

Any great athlete will push through the pain and look toward the finish line.  We need to: …run with patience, the race that is set before us, (Heb. 12:1).  Keep your eye on the finish line, (our heavenly home).  Serve Him with all your heart, and finish a winner.

Recommended reading: Hebrews 12:1-3

Quote:
If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right.

Henry Ford

By: Louis Edwards

Note: The excerpts mentioned about the athelets in this devotion were found in www.beliefnet.com.   

Destined to Fail

Text:

Proverbs 16:18  
¹⁸  Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

 

On April 10, 1912 one of White Stars’ crown jewels started its maiden voyage from Southampton England to New York.  Four days into its journey at 11:40pm on April 14, the Titanic struck an iceberg that plunged it 12,600 feet to the bottom of the ocean in less than three hours.  More than 1,500 people became fatal victims to an icy watery grave in the early morning hours that day.  The White Stars’ promotional flyer for the Olympic and Titanic boasted: “As far as it is possible to do, these two wonderful vessels are designed to be unsinkable.”  Thus giving way to the saying, “Not even God Himself could sink her.”

The tragedy of the Titanic still lingers on today.  Movies, documentaries, museums, and even web sites remind us of the horrible nightmare that took place a little over a century ago.  Often we’ll boast of the progress and achievements we’ve made in our lives, unaware of the impending danger of the iceberg of “Pride” waiting to sink us.

Although Captain Edward Smith received six warnings about the danger that lie ahead, his confidence in an “unsinkable ship” cost him more than his life; it cost the lives of others.  Don’t let “Pride” cause you to fail, because it not only may cost you everything, but it may cost others as well.

By Louis W Edwards II

Recommended Reading:

Isaiah 14:12-16

Quote:

A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you're looking down, you can't see something that's above you.

C. S. Lewis

May Flowers: Special Delivery

Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her.
Proverbs 31:28

Julia Ward Howe (d. 1910) was a prominent American activist who called for a "Mother's Day for Peace" in 1872. Later attempts to honor mothers were unsuccessful until Anna Jarvis of West Virginia created the forerunner of today’s Mother's Day in 1908 in honor of her mother. President Woodrow Wilson formalized Mother's Day nationally in 1914. Jarvis died in 1948 regretting that her holiday had become so overly commercialized. In the midst of the commercialization, however, Mother's Day is third only to Christmas and Easter in terms of church attendance in America.

Fortunately, the Judeo-Christian tradition has all the reasons needed to support and honor mothers every day of the year. Children are to bless their mother, and husbands are to praise her not just on the second Sunday of May but throughout the year. Just as Solomon bowed down before his mother, Bathsheba, and set a throne for her next to his own, so the mothers in our lives deserve equal honor
(1 Kings 2:19).

Quote:

I learned more about Christianity from my mother than from all the theologians of England.

John Wesley

Recommended Reading: 1 Kings 2:18-20

From: Turning Points Magazine & Devotional