Take Two!

Today I have two things I want to share. The first is not necessarily the most important but none the less is first. I am soooo excited for tonight! As you know, Jacob, our third child, was born missing the right side of his pelvis, hip and his whole right leg, yet he is a person who sees only opportunities. He recently joined ASEA which is an athletics association. He has been doing high jump, long jump, wheelchair racing, javelin and shot put. Tonight, Jacob and I are going to Brian McKeever's speaking engagement, which is a formal dinner. Brian McKeever is a repeated Paralympic Gold Medalist in Cross Country Skiing. You can't see me jumping around in excitement but I am. One thing I have learnt, since the Lord brought Jacob into my life, is that people decide what they want to do and being an athlete does not depend on the body's mobility but the person's "willability". I grew up doing all sorts of competitive sports like figure skating and cycling, none competitive like basketball, volleyball and field hockey and now, daily running 5 km, for examples. I can relate with pushing my body to its limits. I can not say that I have pushed it to the same point of an Olympic athlete but I can relate. So what makes an athlete? Here's what the dictionary says, ": a person who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports, or games requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina" I would like to push it a bit further. An athlete is someone who has the will to subject their body to extreme limits to bring his or her body under subjection to their will and desire for accomplishment of a certain skill. I respect that "able" bodied people do this but I would like to add that "disabled" bodies do it to a greater extent. EX: For Jacob, it takes him 300% more energy to go for a stroll compared to another child of his age and stature. When climbing the rope in gymnastics, Jacob had to use his arms only since that second leg wasn't there to help propel him, so he climb up to the same distance as the other children, some older than him, but with just the aid of his two arms. So, although a "disabled" person might seem weaker because his/her body is not what today's society considers "perfect" or "graceful", it is the will and the determination that makes you an achiever and an athlete. My hat is off to them because they are more of an athlete than I ever could be. This is why I am so excited to go to the dinner tonight, not only for the food that Samuel wants me to take pictures of (lol) but to be able to listen to a person who has competed with "disabled" and "able" bodied athletes and has risen to the top to represent our country Canada, at the Paralympics for the past several years. I really appreciate strong willed people.
The second thing is, what the Lord showed me in my bible reading today.
At the ladies conference this year, the main scripture was Micah 6:8, "He hath shewed thee, O man, what [is] good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" And this morning, I came across it again but I gained a deeper appreciation for it by reading the whole chapter. So many people, including myself, get caught up in the PERFORMANCE! PERFORMANCE!, but if you read Micah 6, you'll see that good performance, if you will, only comes when the heart is fixed and devoted. Through this chapter, we see the Lord is pleading Israel, saying what have I done to you? When did I burden you? I brought you out of Egypt, gave you good leaders, King Balak seeked to have me curse you because he was afraid of you because you had many victories of war etc. You ask yourselves about how to please me, "Should I bring a thousand rams or 10 000 rivers of oil, my first born for my transgression." NO!!! God says, it is simple, not easy but simple. Nothing complicated yet, something that is so contrary to our nature that we need to lean and trust on Him to be able to do this. Imagine that, God wants us to depend, trust and lean on Him... Don't we like it when our children don't understand why, but they just trust us and go with the flow? Why can't we just trust in God, that He knows best, and that He will guide if we let Him. These two ... topics, are more similar than I first realised. If the visually impaired athlete chooses to go against the leadership of his guide, he/she risks to hurt themselves and maybe even risk the life of others. They risk to loose the race above all. Both athletes and Christians, need to set our hearts and our affections on the Guide, the one who can see far pass what we can see and trust Him to bring us to the right finish line because not all roads lead to the same finish line.