Stories from the Heart
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| Windcrest Freshman Triathlon 2012 (First Triathlon) |
I wanted to take a
moment for those of you who like to read
and share three stories with you..
Two are an excerpt from a book called “Raising Peanuts In A
Gold Field” by Paul W. Powell
In 1976 a track and file event in
Spokane, Washington, a group of nine contestants, all physically or mentally
challenged assembled at the starting line to begin a race in their Special
Olympics Program. The gun sounded and off they ran down the tract at their own
pace. One of the contestants took a tumble and began to cry. The others slowed
down and looked back. Then one after the other they all turned around and went
back to help up the fallen friend. After they helped them up, they all linked
arms and walked across the goal line together. The voluntarily tossed aside
their own dreams for winning in favor of Helping a fallen friend. When they a
walked across the goal line together the crowd didn’t know what to do. They had
never seen anything like that before. Then, ever so slowly, someone began to
clap until everyone in the stands was standing and cheering for them.
Next John McCain’s Christmas message
in 2007 was an account of his imprisonment as a P.O.W. in the Vietnam. His
plane was shot down in Vietnam, and he was then held as a prisoner in Hanoi for
five ½ years. When the Vietcong learned that his father was an Admiral in the
US Navy, they decided to let him go free as a Public Relations ploy. But, he
refused to be released fro prison unless all his fellow prisoners were released
with him… So the Vietcong guards tied his head between his Ankles and his hands
behind his back and left him in Solitary confinement. The torture was so severe
that it busted his shoulders and to this day he cannot raise his arms above his
head.
One day after he had been treated
brutally by his captors, A guard loosened the cords on his arms to give him
some relief from pain, then the guard reached down with a stick and drew a
cross in the dirt. “When you’re at your lowest there’s always someone who will
lift you up.” Is What McCain Quotes
about the situation. There is a youtube clip about it but I didn’t want
this to seem like a political add.
Third Story As many of
you know.. I have set this goal of someday running an ironman. Crazzy idea
right. That’s what old college friends are good for.. ha ha.. With that being said this last weekend I rand
my first Triathlon. What happened that
day is something I did not expect to happen.
As I rounded the 1 mile mark in the 2 mile run course I could see a guy
walking back up the course in my direction and I knew he was some who had
already finished the race. I just figure he was trying to stretch his muscles
back out in cool down mode.. Well as I got closer to him, he started kind of
cheering me on, “come on you can do this, don’t stop, don’t give up,, come on
you can do this… hey did you know I was right where you were 5 years ago I was
a big guy like you are. Five years ago I
was trying to do the exact same thing you were doing… come on you can do
this..” The guys name was Patrick, and
even though he didn’t half to, he came back out, and help see me through the
end of the race.. I didn’t know him, had never met him before. He out of his over flow came back out to give
more of what he had already been given.
God had help me finish what I started, he didn’t half to do that, but he
sent someone anyway to run alongside me
to encourage me and help me every step of the way to the end.
The
Moral is I want to be like all those people I want to be like those mentally
challenged people who go back and pick up a fallen friend and help them across
the goal line rather than run off and leave them behind, I want to be Like the guard who loosens the cords that
bind people and lifts them up when the are down.(Raising Peanuts in a Field Of Gold) I want to be more like
Patrick and help encourage people don’t give up, you can do this, the finish
line is almost there.. Your family is there, right around the corner don’t give
up you can do this….
It is through loving
that we are most like God---not our doctrinal beliefs-----our orthodoxy. You can be as straight as a gun barrel
theologically and as cold as a gun Barrel spiritual. It is not our church attendance,
our scripture memory, or our giving. The whole law is summed u pin these words,
“we are to love God with all our hearts and love our neighbor as
ourselves.” Vincent Van Gough was
quoted saying in his last days, “I wish not that my Legacy be written on a
building, or in stone, I wish my legacy to be written on the heart of God.”
So today I ask
you, have you went back to help your friend up who has fallen down?
Have you loosen the cords on a captive to set them free?
Have you went back with you cup that overflows to share with
someone, “don’t quit, you can do this, keep going your almost there”?
I pray that you have shown God the great love that you have
for him, and shared that love with those who are around him. Father be with those who have taken time to read this article, hear their hearts cry.. some of them need someone to come along side of them and cheer them on through the circumstance they are experiencing right now, So father please.. send people to do just that, help them to know through those people and through there word.. to keep going... not to quit... to endure the race they have begun... cheer them on Father and help them to know you are there with them.. Allow them to feel your presence and be inspired by you Father...
Father for some of them they need to go out out with the cup you have filled and allow it to spill on to the lives of others..Father help them to bless others, encourage them, strengthen them, and may the Love you have given them inspire others to continue on and not give up and bring honor to them and even great honor to you.. May that always know it you who has given them this great gift... Father please come and speak to us, move us Father, help us to grab a hold of the life you have given us, and help us to thrive with a great zeal for what has been laid before of us, and help us father to be responsible with what you have given us and be able to bring honor to you with our lives.. Father please do all these things in the name of your son Jesus.. Amen..
(The italicized writing is quotes or lines of
thought from the book, “Raising Peanuts In A Gold Field”)
Scotty Smith
Yeah did not expect to fall of the wagon and have it break all around me.. ha ha. i guess it really is not that bad right? ha ha.. nothing broke, all my equipment still works, just for one reason or another... didn't kick in...
