Above The Line Article:
"No
Arms, No Legs, No Worries!"
By Erik Carlson
What would you expect a
man to share in a talk; that
was told he would never walk,
write, type, or live a productive
life due to having no arms
and no legs? I had
my ideas, too, but I wasn't
prepared to hear what I heard.
With his two toes extending
from his shorts, Nick Vujacic
can type 42 words a minute,
he can swim, surf, drive,
has a college degree, and
at only 25 years of age,
he runs a multinational non-profit
organization. In the
first words that came from
his mouth, he said "I'm
not here to tell you 'woe
is me', and 'here's
what I have to overcome each
day'. No, I'm
telling you that at the end
of my talk, you will be jealous
of a man with no arms and
no legs."
He was right. He was
bold coming out of the blocks. His
big idea, or theme to his
talk was that 'when
circumstances in your life
don't change, and God
doesn't make sense,
Hold on to the Truth. Hold
onto Jesus, and He will set
you free. Free from
worry, free from guilt". He
said "what I thought
I needed was arms and legs. What
I truly needed was God's
love. His grace is
perfected in weakness."
I encourage you to visit
his website to see and hear
more: www.lifewithoutlimbs.org,
as I can't do justice
in one column, what this
man had to offer. But
I was touched personally
the most when this man, who
was basically a head and
torso 'standing' on
a platform, allowed himself
to fall down. I thought
'how on earth will he be
able to get up?'. While
he was down on his stomach,
he looked up to the crowd
and said "victory is
not getting up when you fall,
or beating that addiction;
victory is knowing that you
can't do it on your
own. Victory is when
you let Jesus set you free." Then
he propped his forehead on
a bible that was resting
on the platform, and inched
his body into an arc. With
a grunt, slightly out of
balance, he popped back up
to 'standing'. The
place went nuts, and tears
flowed freely.
What I found
myself jealous of was Nick's
freedom from worry and guilt. I
know more than ever, that I
can have that, too. As
I grow in my faith in Jesus,
I am excited to experience
freedom from these joy-steelers,
and live the life I was truly
meant to live. Thanks,
Nick. |
