For My Wedding

 Here’s a special song for couples who are planning to finally tie the knot. But it offers a different perspective and a much deeper meaning. Marriage is the ultimate realization of love for those who choose to live their lives with that special someone. It is just so unfortunate that we tend to look at marriage as  just another event in our lives. We only see the glamour and the excitement and not the responsibility that comes with it. When I got thru the lyrics, I was particularly struck by the 2nd verse which says: 

” For my wedding, I don’t want violins
  Or sentimental songs about thick and thin
  I want a moment of silence and a moment of prayer
  For the love we’ll need to make it in the world out there”

For My Wedding by Don Henley (Inside Job album)

For My Wedding

For my wedding, I will dress in black

And never again will I look back
Ah, my dark angels we must part
For I’ve made a sanctuary of my heart

To want what I have
To take what I’m given with grace
For this I pray
On my wedding day

For my wedding, I don’t want violins
Or sentimental songs about thick and thin
I want a moment of silence and a moment of prayer
For the love we’ll need to make it in the world out there

To want what I have
To take what I’m given with grace
For this I pray
On my wedding day
On my wedding day

I dream, and my dreams are all glory and light
That’s what I’ve wanted for my life
And if it hasn’t always been that way
Well, I can dream and I can pray
On my wedding day

So what makes us any different from all the others
Who have tried and failed before us
Maybe nothing, maybe nothing at all
But I pray we’re the lucky ones; I pray we never fall

To want what we have
To take what we’re given with grace
For these things I pray
On my wedding day
On my wedding day 

Dick Hoyt: The True Ironman

I would like to share with you the story of a man who has exemplified the true essence of LOVE. I think this story was one moving factor why I had to simply put up this blog. As a young man, struggling to find a purpose in my life, I am deeply moved by his courage and his motivation to look deeper into all the challenges life threw at him. He never failed to see the BIGGER picture. The very same picture that God is painting for each and every one of us. Sometimes we become selfish and discontent with the things that are always within our reach. We ultimately fail to realize that all things that we have and ALL THAT WE ARE belongs to Him, the Supreme Being. I am grateful to the Lord always because He has never forsaken me despite my inequities and my weakness. - lifeunlimited

                                               My Redeemer Lives: Team Hoyt

  Paying Tribute to Dick Hoyt

by: Rep. Duncan [R-TN]: www.govtrack.us

Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to pay tribute to a man who is not from my districts or even from my State, but who certainly must be one of the most wonderful men of whom I have ever read. The story of Dick Hoyt of Holland, Massachusetts is one of the most amazing, inspiring stories I have ever read.

Rick Reilly, a columnist for Sports Illustrated, wrote about Mr. Hoyt in a column published in that magazine the week before last. Mr. Reilly described it as a love story that began 43 years ago when Mr. Hoyt’s son Rick “was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him brain damaged and unable to control his limbs.”

The Hoyts were told Rick would be a vegetable for the rest of his life and that they should put him in an institution. They refused.

When Rick was 11, they took him to engineers at Tufts University to ask them if there was some way to allow him to communicate. They were told, no way, nothing was going on in Rick’s brain.

“Tell him a joke,” Mr. Hoyt said. “They did. Rick laughed.” They had noticed the way Rick’s eyes followed them around the room. There was a lot going on in Rick’s brain.

The engineers rigged up a computer that Rick could peck letters on by hitting it with a stick attached to the side of his head. His first words were, “Go Bruins!”

After a high school classmate of Rick’s was paralyzed in an accident, and a charity run was organized, Rick pecked out the words, “Dad, I want to do that.”

Mr. Hoyt, who called himself a porker, pushed Rick in that race, and Rick typed out “Dad, when we were running, it felt like I was not disabled anymore.”

Now, here comes the amazing part.

Since that first race, Dick Hoyt has pushed Rick in 85 marathons, 26.2 miles each. Twenty-four times they have run in the Boston Marathon.

Listen to Rick Reilly’s column: “Their best time, 2 hours 40, minutes in 1992; only 35 minutes off the world record which, in case you don’t keep track of these things, happens to be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the time.”

Now Dick Hoyt is 65, his son is 43. They have done 212 triathlons, including four grueling, 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii, 8 triathlons altogether where the father not only pushed his son 26.2 miles in a wheelchair, but also pulled him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming, and pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars, all in the same day.

Columnist Reilly wrote, “I try to be a good father, but compared with Dick Hoyt I suck.”

What a special son. What a special father. What a special story.

I thank Rick Reilly for writing such a wonderful column.

It is an honor to pay tribute to a man like Dick Hoyt.

I am sure that his special relationship with his son has inspired countless numbers across the land and has, in a very unique way, made this Nation a better place.

Mr. Speaker, I think it is the most inspiring story I have ever read. I would like to attach the column from Sports Illustrated to my remarks here tonight and call them to the attention of my colleagues and other readers of the RECORD.

Strongest Dad in the World

I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay for their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots.

But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.

Eighty-five times he’s pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in marathons. Eight times he’s not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars–all in the same day.

Dick’s also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. on a bike. Makes taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much–except save his life.

This love story began in Winchester, Mass., 43 years ago, when Rick was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.

“He’ll be a vegetable the rest of his life;” Dick says doctors told him and his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. “Put him in an institution.”

But the Hoyts weren’t buying it. They noticed the way Rick’s eyes followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was anything to help the boy communicate. “No way,” Dick says he was told. “There’s nothing going on in his brain.”

“Tell him a joke,” Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a lot was going on in his brain.

Rigged up with a computer that allowed him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? “Go Bruins!” And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the school organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, “Dad, I want to do that.”

Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described “porker” who never ran more than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he tried. “Then it was me who was handicapped,” Dick says. “I was sore for two weeks.”

That day changed Rick’s life. “Dad,” he typed, “when we were running, it felt like I wasn’t disabled anymore!”

And that sentence changed Dick’s life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.

“No way,” Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren’t quite a single runner, and they weren’t quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then they found a way to get into the race officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the qualifying time for Boston the following year.

Then somebody said, “Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?”

How’s a guy who never learned to swim and hadn’t ridden a bike since he was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick tried.

Now they’ve done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii. It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don’t you think?

 Hey, Dick, why not see how you’d do on your own? “No way,” he says. Dick does it purely for “the awesome feeling” he gets seeing Rick with a cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best time’? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992–only 35 minutes off the world record, which, in case you don’t keep track of these things, happens to be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the time.

“No question about it,” Rick types. “My dad is the Father of the Century.”

And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries was 95% clogged. “If you hadn’t been in such great shape,” one doctor told him, “you probably would’ve died 15 years ago.”

So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other’s life.

Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass., always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father’s Day.

That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.

“The thing I’d most like,” Rick types, “is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once.”

Apology Hotline

Jesse Jacobs has created an APOLOGY HOTLINE. This hotline has made it possible to apologize WITHOUT actually talking to the person you have wronged. People who are unable, or simply unwilling to unburden their conscience in person call the hotline and leave a message on an answering machine. Each week, 40-50 calls are logged, as people apologize for things from adultery to embezzlement. The hotline offers participants a chance to alleviate their guilt and, to some degree, to own up to their faults.

 Something to think about… 

The apology hotline may seem to offer some relief from guilt, but this is not how Jesus instructed His followers to handle conflict. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told us to deal with conflict by taking the INITIATIVE and going to the offended person to apologize for the wrongdoing. In fact, Jesus taught us that, the problem of human estrangement is so serious that we should even interrupt our worship to gon a personal mission of reconciliation.  Jesus encouraged His followers to be reconciled with one another eagerly, aggressively, quickly and personally.

One more thing… Are any of your relationships broken or estranged because of something you said or did? Take the INITIATIVE! Go now and do all you can do to be reconciled. Remember that, at the heart of all conflict is a SELFISH heart.

Article Source: Marvin Williams from Our Daily Bread

Image Source:  www.krittercards.com

Beware of Open Doors

            Sometimes Christians follow an ‘OPEN DOOR‘ policy. When a door of opportunity opens, they assume that it’s God’s will to go through it. Best selling author Terri Blackstock knows this is UNTRUE. She never openly rebelled against God, but she found herself away from Him after walking through open doors of opportunity. She had allowed herself to believe that God has blessing her career by opening up all the ‘doors’. Although she got what she wanted… a successful career, writing romance novels for Harlequin and Silhouette, she lost what she really needed: a close relationship with God. When she finally admitted that her career was keeping her from God, she turned her back on success and renewed her commitment to the Lord. Since then, her writing career has been revitalized and she has become an award-winning author of Christian fiction.

Something to think about…

Just because the Lord doesn’t stop us from something, does not necessarily mean He wants us to continue. To recognize which opportunities to pursue, we need to ‘approve the things that are excellent’ and to be filled with the fruits of righteousness… to the glory and praise of God.

When you’re making a decision, evil sometimes wears a mask, trust the Lord for true discenrment, He’ll give WISDOM  if you ask. - Hess

The best way to God’s will is to say ” I WILL” to God…

Article/Image Source: Our Daily Bread, www.freedomquestministry.org

Scattered Fruit

The story is told of a Christian serving in the armed forces who was home on a leave of absence. He was rushing to catch his train when he ran into a fruit stand on the station platform, knocking most of the piled up apples to the ground. The young boy who was attending to the stand tried to pick up his scattered fruit but was having difficulty. The apologetic serviceman put down his luggage and started collecting the apples. He polished each one with his handkerchief and put it back on the counter. So impressed was the boy that he asked gratefully, “Sir, are you Jesus?” With a smile, the soldier replied, “No I’m not but I’m trying to be like Him.”

 Something to think about…

Sometimes, as we hurry about our own responsibilities, we become too busy to care about OTHER people. But we must remember that Jesus urges us to show Kindness and Conern for our fellowmen. He set the perfect example for us in John 13 by being a servant. We need to take the time to be helpful also.

Article Source: Our Daily Bread 2009  Image Source: www.dkimages.com

Living the Life

Life is simply awesome. Come celebrate life with stories, tunes and clips that will truly inspire and motivate you, make you laugh or cry. Whatever the case may be, I hope it becomes a driving force for you to strive to become better people and influence others positively.