One of the Most Inspiring Things I've Ever Seen

This summer we have had the privilege of having Gary Thomas preach at our church and have thoroughly enjoyed his messages and wonderful sermons. This morning he spoke on God's mercy and redeeming love for us and showed this video of Dick and Rick Hoyt. Some of you may have heard of this father and son duo but Craig and I never had and were extremely touched by their story and the video Gary showed.

To give you a brief synopsis, Rick Hoyt was born a "spastic quadriplegic" with cerebral palsy from having his umbilical cord wrapped several times around his neck resulting in oxygen deprivation. Doctors even suggested his parents put him in a special home but they refused and insisted upon raising and loving him as their son, trying to give him as normal of a life as possible. He was also unable to speak but upon insisting that they be able to communicate with Rick, his parent's took him to Tuft's University where a special interactive computer was built so that he could "speak" to them. A teen in their town was paralyzed in a car accident and there was a benefit run and Rick told his dad he wanted to run in it. In this race, his dad, who was a self proclaimed "couch potato" pushed Rick in his wheelchair for 5 miles. That night, Rick told his dad, "Dad, when I'm running, I feel like I'm not handicapped." From there, they went on to 10ks, half marathons and marathons and eventually triathlons and then the Iron Man Triathlon. In the swimming portion, Dick swims and pulls Rick in a boat for 2.5 miles, 112 miles on a bike and then pushes him for a 26.2 mile run.

This video is almost 5 minutes but it is incredible and so inspiring to see a father's devotion and love for his son, just as God loves and is so devoted to us.

This isn't the exact video we saw but is pretty close. Enjoy!

P.S. Craig and I, along with the entire church, cried like babies from this.