“I wonder why it turned out so differently?” I’d just finished telling my story to her students. Tears welled as she described her injury – broken vertebrae, paralysis, halo brace, details eerily reminiscent of my experience – yet this vibrant young woman stood in front of me and pondered our very different paths. I shook […]
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Less Than Or Equal?
“19% of a whole person.” In the aftermath of my injury I received all sorts of information. Some diagnostic, some clinical, some legal…some helpful, some not-so-much. I can’t recall a details any more devastating than the neurologist’s report on the extent of my injury. From a functional standpoint, on an impartial, clinical scale, I was […]
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They Don’t Care
Probably not true. Too easy to dismiss folks who don’t jump into an issue like human trafficking or some other big-deal problem with “they don’t care.” Mostly, though, I believe people DO care. When they know about our 22 kids, about what they’ve endured, I have a difficult time believing they really don’t care. I […]
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Get Better Shoes
I like metaphors. Imagine your path, everywhere you turn, covered by broken glass. One solution: try to cover the entire world so you can walk in comfort. Or…cover your own feet with tough-soled shoes and move forward.* We can fuss about external circumstances that block our path, circumstances over which we often we have no […]
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Why You Should Show Your Work
Students typically don’t like to show their work. Often when I asked students to explain HOW? their explanation sounded a bit like the cartoon. “I did this…then a miracle occurs…and I got the right answer! Cool, huh?” Sounds silly, but I think we often do a similar thing when we share our stories. I think not-showing-our-work […]
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Hope And A Mirror
“Don’t cling to hopes.” My friend Jon wrote that a few days ago as he watched a robin in his backyard. And you’re expecting me to argue…but Jon makes a great point. Our hopes are based on the rear-view-mirror. Back there, I watched someone with a spinal cord injury walk out of the hospital. So I […]
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The Bike In The Garage
“I’ve got two bikes in my garage.” “Great. You should come and ride with us.” “Problem is, neither of them work.” “Maybe that’s not the problem,” I thought to myself. “Maybe the problem is that they’re hanging in the garage. A bike only ‘works’ if you get it down, pump up the tires, and ride […]
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Just Pick Up Your Corner
Four friends carried a paralyzed man to see Jesus. They were pretty determined. According to Mark the four friends fought through a large crowd, lugged their friend onto the roof, cut a hole, and lowered him into the room where Jesus was eating dinner. Lots of lessons in this familiar story, many sermons, tons of theology. […]
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How Big Is Your Dream?
Thirty years ago I confronted an insurmountable obstacle. After spinal surgery and five weeks of recovery, therapists loaded me into my first wheelchair and rolled me into the hospital hallway where they’d placed a 10-foot strip of red tape. My first therapy goal was to push my chair 10 feet. I couldn’t do it. Couldn’t. […]
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Self-Help Or Hope?
Someone asked the other day if RELENTLESS GRACE is a self-help book. I laughed. In hindsight, that probably wasn’t the most sensitive response. I knew what he meant, but I chuckled at the notion that I somehow “helped myself” through the darkness of that horrible experience. RELENTLESS GRACE isn’t a story of self-help, it’s a […]
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Only One Way To Sit Still
I cranked my first handcycle 19 years ago – in March, 1999. I’ve told the story before. Two blocks, thirty minutes. After a decade of inactivity, it wasn’t exactly a triumph. I’ve also said God used the handcycle to inspire hope, to help me look forward rather than back. Maybe you wonder how that works. […]
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Can We Handle The Truth?
“The truth is more important than the facts.” Frank Lloyd Wright Wait…what? Is this iconic architect offering yet another argument for “alternative facts?” I don’t think so. I can’t imagine fact-free architecture. Buildings are constrained by science, gravity doesn’t care whether you believe it. Ignoring inconvenient facts doesn’t stop the structure from collapsing. Frank Lloyd […]
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