This true story will touch your heart in a way nothing ever has...

Hey everyone,

            For this post I decided that I would do something a little different.  Below is my version of a true story that I heard last semester during a chapel service at Bryan College.  The story touched my heart like nothing ever had before.  I had never as close to crying when I heard about this story in many years.  I pray that it touches you the same way that it touched me.

            Many years ago in Massachusetts there was a boy and a father.  They both loved each other very much.  One day they son came to his father and told him that he wanted to run in a five-mile benefit run for a local lacrosse player who had been paralyzed in an accident.  His father, who was not a runner, said to his son, “Son, I am not a runner but because I love you I will train and help you train and we will run that race together.”  So he trained and he trained and he trained with his son and they ran that race.  A couple months later the son came again to his father and said that he would like to compete in the Boston Marathon.  His father said, “Son, you know that I am not a runner but because I love you I will train and help you train and we will run the Boston Marathon together.”  So he trained and he trained and he trained with his son and they ran the Boston Marathon.  Some years later, after running countless marathons together the son came to his father and said that he would like to compete in a triathlon.  His father, who couldn’t swim and hadn’t ridden a bike since he was six told his son, “Son, you know that I cannot swim and I haven’t ridden a bike since I was really young but because I love you I will learn how to swim and how to ride a bike again and I will train with you and we will compete in the triathlon.”  So for months and months he learned how to swim and ride a bike and he trained and he trained and he trained with his son and they competed in that triathlon.  To date they have competed in countless marathons, duathlons, and triathlons including six Ironman distances.

Below is a link to a video of this father and son competing in one of their countless triathlons.  Please take the time to watch it!  Trust me, it will touch your heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPLCaAu_H2U

            Now that you have watched the video I have included below an article about them from their website, a list of how many races they have been in and a list of awards that they have received over the years.  Their website is http://www.teamhoyt.com/.

Racing Towards Inclusion

by David Tereshchuk

Article courtesy of multi'merica.com

            Dick and Rick Hoyt are a father-and-son team from Massachusetts who together compete just about continuously in marathon races. And if they’re not in a marathon they are in a triathlon — that daunting, almost superhuman, combination of 26.2 miles of running, 112 miles of bicycling, and 2.4 miles of swimming. Together they have climbed mountains, and once trekked 3,735 miles across America.

            It’s a remarkable record of exertion — all the more so when you consider that Rick can't walk or talk.

            For the past twenty five years or more Dick, who is 65, has pushed and pulled his son across the country and over hundreds of finish lines. When Dick runs, Rick is in a wheelchair that Dick is pushing. When Dick cycles, Rick is in the seat-pod from his wheelchair, attached to the front of the bike. When Dick swims, Rick is in a small but heavy, firmly stabilized boat being pulled by Dick.

            At Rick’s birth in 1962 the umbilical cord coiled around his neck and cut off oxygen to his brain. Dick and his wife, Judy, were told that there would be no hope for their child’s development.

            "It’s been a story of exclusion ever since he was born," Dick told me. "When he was eight months old the doctors told us we should just put him away — he’d be a vegetable all his life, that sort of thing. Well those doctors are not alive any more, but I would like them to be able to see Rick now."

            The couple brought their son home determined to raise him as "normally" as possible. Within five years, Rick had two younger brothers, and the Hoyts were convinced Rick was just as intelligent as his siblings. Dick remembers the struggle to get the local school authorities to agree: "Because he couldn’t talk they thought he wouldn’t be able to understand, but that wasn’t true." The dedicated parents taught Rick the alphabet. "We always wanted Rick included in everything," Dick said. "That’s why we wanted to get him into public school."

            A group of Tufts University engineers came to the rescue, once they had seen some clear, empirical evidence of Rick’s comprehension skills. "They told him a joke," said Dick. "Rick just cracked up. They knew then that he could communicate!" The engineers went on to build — using $5,000 the family managed to raise in 1972 - an interactive computer that would allow Rick to write out his thoughts using the slight head-movements that he could manage. Rick came to call it "my communicator." A cursor would move across a screen filled with rows of letters, and when the cursor highlighted a letter that Rick wanted, he would click a switch with the side of his head.

When the computer was originally brought home, Rick surprised his family with his first "spoken" words. They had expected perhaps "Hi, Mom" or "Hi, Dad." But on the screen Rick wrote "Go Bruins." The Boston Bruins were in the Stanley Cup finals that season, and his family realized he had been following the hockey games along with everyone else. "So we learned then that Rick loved sports," said Dick.

            In 1975, Rick was finally admitted into a public school. Two years later, he told his father he wanted to participate in a five-mile benefit run for a local lacrosse player who had been paralyzed in an accident. Dick, far from being a long-distance runner, agreed to push Rick in his wheelchair. They finished next to last, but they felt they had achieved a triumph. That night, Dick remembers, "Rick told us he just didn’t feel handicapped when we were competing."

            Rick’s realization turned into a whole new set of horizons that opened up for him and his family, as "Team Hoyt" began to compete in more and more events. Rick reflected on the transformation process for me, using his now-familiar but ever-painstaking technique of picking out letters of the alphabet:

            "What I mean when I say I feel like I am not handicapped when competing is that I am just like the other athletes, and I think most of the athletes feel the same way.  In the beginning nobody would come up to me. However, after a few races some athletes came around and they began to talk to me. During the early days one    runner, Pete Wisnewski had a bet with me at every race on who would beat who.  The loser had to hang the winner’s number in his bedroom until the next race.  Now many athletes will come up to me before the race or triathlon to wish me   luck."

It is hard to imagine now the resistance which the Hoyts encountered early on, but attitudes did begin to change when they entered the Boston Marathon in 1981, and finished in the top quarter of the field. Dick recalls the earlier, less tolerant days with more sadness than anger:

            "Nobody wanted Rick in a road race. Everybody looked at us, nobody talked to us, nobody wanted to have anything to do with us. But you can’t really blame them - people often are not educated, and they’d never seen anyone like us. As time went on, though, they could see he was a person — he has a great sense of humor, for instance. That made a big difference."

After 4 years of marathons, Team Hoyt attempted their first triathlon — and for this Dick had to learn to swim. "I sank like a stone at first" Dick recalled with a laugh "and I hadn’t been on a bike since I was six years old."

            With a newly-built bike (adapted to carry Rick in front) and a boat tied to Dick’s waist as he swam, the Hoyts came in second-to-last in the competition held on Father’s Day 1985.

"We chuckle to think about that as my Father’s Day present from Rick, " said Dick.

They have been competing ever since, at home and increasingly abroad. Generally they manage to improve their finishing times. "Rick is the one who inspires and motivates me, the way he just loves sports and competing," Dick said.

And the business of inspiring evidently works as a two-way street. Rick typed out this testimony:

            "Dad is one of my role models. Once he sets out to do something, Dad sticks to it whatever it is, until it is done. For example once we decided to really get into triathlons, dad worked out, up to five hours a day, five times a week, even when he was working."

The Hoyts’ mutual inspiration for each other seems to embrace others too — many spectators and fellow-competitors have adopted Team Hoyt as a powerful example of determination. "It’s been funny," said Dick "Some people have turned out, some in good shape, some really out of shape, and they say ‘we want to thank you, because we’re here because of you’."

Rick too has taken full note of their effect on fellow-competitors while racing:

            "Whenever we are passed (usually on the bike) the athlete will say "Go for it!" or "Rick, help your Dad!" When we pass people (usually on the run) they’ll say "Go Team Hoyt!" or "If not for you, we would not be out here doing this."

Most of all, perhaps, the Hoyts can see an impact from their efforts in the area of the handicapped, and on public attitudes toward the physically and mentally challenged.

"That’s the big thing," said Dick. "People just need to be educated. Rick is helping many other families coping with disabilities in their struggle to be included."

            That is not to say that all obstacles are now overcome for the Hoyts. Dick is "still bothered," he says, by people who are discomforted because Rick cannot fully control his tongue while eating. "In restaurants - and it’s only older people mostly - they’ll see Rick’s food being pushed out of his mouth and they’ll leave, or change their table. But I have to say that kind of intolerance is gradually being defeated."

            Rick’s own accomplishments, quite apart from the duo’s continuing athletic success, have included his moving on from high school to Boston University, where he graduated in 1993 with a degree in special education. That was followed a few weeks later by another entry in the Boston Marathon. As he fondly pictured it: "On the day of the marathon from Hopkinton to Boston people all over the course were wishing me luck, and they had signs up which read `congratulations on your graduation!’"

            Rick now works at Boston College’s computer laboratory helping to develop a system codenamed "Eagle Eyes," through which mechanical aids (like for instance a powered wheelchair) could be controlled by a paralyzed person’s eye-movements, when linked-up to a computer.

            Together the Hoyts don’t only compete athletically; they also go on motivational speaking tours, spreading the Hoyt brand of inspiration to all kinds of audiences, sporting and non-sporting, across the country.

            Rick himself is confident that his visibility — and his father’s dedication — perform a forceful, valuable purpose in a world that is too often divisive and exclusionary. He typed a simple parting thought:

            "The message of Team Hoyt is that everybody should be included in everyday life."

David Tereshchuk is a documentary television producer. He currently works for the United Nations.

Their Racing History 1979 - December 31, 2006 - updated March 20, 2007

Biked and ran across the USA in 1992-3,735 miles in 45 consecutive days.
Biked the states of Connecticut,Rhode Island, Massachussets,with "Axa World Ride '95."
Biked from Pittsburgh,PA to Washington DC with "Axa World Ride 95."

Team Hoyt Awards

Here is a list of just some of the Awards Team Hoyt has received.

• Living Legends Sports Award, Sports Museum of New England
• Lifetime Achievement Award, Western New England College
• Kodak Champions, Parade Magazine
• George Washington Honor Medal, Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge
• Certificate of Achievement, President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports
• The Crews Choise Award, Ironman Canada
• Champion Sports Award, Lombardi Foundation, Washington, DC
• Father and Son of the Year Award, Holland, MA
• EL Club Triathlon Special Award, Santa Anna, El Salvador
• Reach for the Star Image Awards, Morgan Memorial Goodwill Indusdries
• World Triathlon Strength and Courage Award, Montreal Mondial
• Parenting Award, Army National Guard of MA.
• Exemplary Father Award, Office of the Mayor, Dayton OH
• Sheriffs Special Award, Middlesex County, MA
• Certificate of Excellence: Bud Light Ironman, Kona, HI
• Special Achievement Award, Falmouth Annual Road Race
• Jaycess Fitness Leader Award, Long Beach, CA
• Humanitarian Service Award, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
• Certificate of Completion: Trek Across America, Governor Weld, Boston, MA
• Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree, Western New England College
• Sports Personality Award, Boston Press Photographers Association
• Superlative Performance for Courage Arete
• Boston Proclamation: Dick & Rick Hoyt Day, Mayor Flynn, Boston, MA
• True Ironman Award, Waltham Police Dept., Waltham, MA
• Great Seal of the Commonwealth, Governor Dukakis, Massachusetts
• Recognition Proclamation, Lambertville, NJ Office of the Mayor, Lambertville, NJ

Currently Listening They're Only Chasing Safety By Underoath Reinventing Your Exit see related

Yet More Wisdom from Timmy of UnderOath...

"I received some questions from someone regarding concerns or miscommunications about the last few of my journal entries and I said that I would answer each of them every week or so until they were all done....well here is the first one. 1. In your last Journal post, Tim, you mentioned that that we are not perfect. However, in the bible you read Jesus gives people help for their weak areas that they struggle. Are you giving an excuse to sin and accept who we are without bettering ourselves?? My intention with that post was not to rationalize sin, or give people a ticket to do whatever they want. My main intention with that post was to get peoples focus off of their sin and struggles. The church has been boiled down to a list of things you shouldn't do, and I truly believe Christianity is about things you should do. We spend all of our time trying to clean up our messes, fully well knowing at some point the mess is far to big to deal with ourselves. I think we as a church, a body, and a community need not attempt to push people away from their sins, but push people toward Christ. When Jesus called the disciples he didn't say Peter...stop cussing, sleeping with your girlfriend, and getting drunk...and then you can come be a great man of the Lord.....no, he simply said follow me. Christianity is about doing, not NOT DOING! If someone wants to loose weight they don't stare at their unsatisfactory appearance in the mirror and beat themselves up about it. The people that are successful in those kinds of areas are the people that start DOING. You START exercising, you START eating right, you START going toward what is good and healthy for your body, and naturally the bad (weakness, excess body fat...etc) will start to fade. Our relationship with Christ is the same way. We need to get up everyday and go towards what is good; towards what is right and we will see the things that shouldn't be in our life simultaneously go away. THEY ARE PARALLEL!!!! My stance is this....if we keep beating ourselves and everyone else up over the sin and struggles in our lives we will become nothing but depressed helpless individuals. If instead we push each other lovingly toward Christ and thing of good merit then we will see the changes we all know are capable through Christ happen before our eyes. Is this easy, NO. Is it worth it...undoubtedly. I have learned this the hard way. Underoath has broken up twice over people dwelling on sin and not dwelling on Christ, the one who frees from sin. I have seen both sides of this coin, and one is very dark and has no good in it's outcome. God called us to be lovers not judges. So I will say again...hopefully with much more clarity...I'm a screw up, we all are. If you struggle with sex, drugs, porn, hate, depression...etc you are not alone. If someone makes you feel that way then they are doing the opposite of what Christ called us to do. We are called to hate sin but love the sinner. If their was no love for the sinner then we would all be in a very dark place. This took me 23 years to grasp, and I have only just started to actually understand how this integrates into our social interactions with people. I'll put it simply....If we serve an almighty, all knowing God...then why do we constantly need to dethrone him as judge and ruler over people as if he is not fit to do so. Be blessed my friends and I hope these thoughts find you in clarity and love. He who is without sin cast the first stone. Love, Timmy"

Post Surgery Update and Two New Brothers...

Hey Everyone,

            Today was a very unique day in my life.  I woke up at 5:00 A.M. and couldn’t get back to sleep because I was so excited/nervous about my surgery.  My Father, Mother, and I left for the hospital (Parkwest in Knoxville, Tennessee) around 6:30 A.M.  When we arrived we didn’t have to wait long until I went back to a recovery room to get changed into one of those sexy gowns and was asked many questions.  I stayed in the recovery room until 8:10 and then they wheeled me into the surgery waiting room.  It was there where they put an IV in my left arm (exactly at 8:36 A.M.) and put all of the things on me to check my vital signs.  I stayed in there until 9:10 A.M.  While I was in there I found out that I could mess with my vital signs by moving my upper body around and breathing weird.  That was a lot of fun.  I also enjoyed listening to all of the nurses and the other patients (who were all old).  The anesthesiologist came in right before 9:10 A.M. and gave me a shot through my IV to calm me and then she wheeled me into the operation room.  I don’t remember much more after that.  The last thing I remember was the anesthesiologist doing something to my IV.  The next thing I knew I was waking up two hours later in a surgery post-waiting room and a nurse asked me if I would like some ice chips.  I made friends with an old woman to my right.  She just came out of surgery too.  After I was wide awake they wheeled me back into a recovery room.  My mother came in to see me and then my father came after she left (because only one person is allowed in the recovery room at a time).  They gave me some ice water to drink and crackers to eat.  I was released around 1:00 P.M.  My heel didn’t hurt at all because my doctor numbed it.  The nurse said right before I left that I couldn’t take a shower for a week but won’t be able to make it because of my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder so I’m going to try to take a shower tomorrow.  My parents said that the doctor said that I have ten stitches on the outside of my skin and thirty in my heel bone.  I’m going next week to get the ten removed and the others should dissolve into my blood stream.  The doctor said that I was one of the easiest patients that he had ever operated on.  He said that my heel would be sore for three months and I wouldn’t be able to drive for at least two or three weeks.  I posted pictures of me before and after the surgery on Facebook if anyone wants to see them.  I’m pretty drugged up right now so I’m not in too much pain.

            In other news, I got two new brothers today. They are two baby male kittens named Hygelac and Kumquat.  My brother has pictures of them on Facebook and I should be getting some of them on there soon.  They are both about the size of one of my hands and they love to cuddle.  They really like me because I can’t really move right now.

            I want to thank everyone for your prayers.  God really took care of me today (like He does everyday).  I am so thankful for each and every one of you for your support and prayers.  I couldn’t ask for better friends.  Please continue to pray for me because I’m pretty sore and I’m going to be sore for quite a while.  I plan on periodically updating all of you on how my recovery is going.  Thank you all again!

                                                                                    Your Brother in Christ,

                                                                                    Matthew Smith

Surgery and such...

Hey everyone,

            Well at 9:00 A.M. I will be in surgery at Parkwest in Knoxville, Tennessee.  For those of you that don’t know I am having surgery done on my right heel.  I was born with Haglund’s deformity.  I didn’t even know that I had it until I started driving and my right heel started hurting.  I don’t ever have to get this surgery done but I’m going to because I don’t want it to bother me anymore.  I’m not worried about the surgery at all.  The doctor said that I have a better chance dying on my way to the hospital then I do during the surgery.  I’m going to make sure to post pictures of my surgery before and after pictures on Facebook for those who want to see them.  Other than the surgery that is coming up in a few hours my life is going pretty well, which I haven’t been able to say for a long time.  My grandfather isn’t doing so well though.  We’re pretty sure that he has lung cancer.  Please pray that God would take away all of the pain that he is in.  Well, I guess I better get off here so that I can get a little bit of sleep before I wake up at 6:00 A.M. in order to get to the hospital by 7:00 A.M.  Please remember to keep me in your prayers.

Currently Listening Nickel Creek By Nickel Creek Ode to a Butterfly see related

Giving blood with a cheerful heart...

Hey Everyone,

             Wow!  It seems like it’s been forever since I’ve posted on here.  Sorry about that.  I’ve been busy with last minute reports and finals.  There has been something that has been bothering me all this week that I need to get off my chest.  This past Wednesday I gave blood for blood assurance.  Right before I gave blood I looked at the sign up list and there were only about twenty or so people signed up.  As the blood was being pumped out of me I was asking myself why not many people were giving blood.  After it was all done and over I went back on my hall to rest before my softball class.  Before I did I asked several people on my hall why they weren’t planning on giving blood.  To my surprise I was disappointed to hear that the reason that they weren’t giving blood was because they weren’t getting paid for it.  Since there was nothing in it for them they weren’t going to give blood.  I’m sorry, but that pisses me off.  That’s such a selfish and greedy attitude.  I asked them if they felt the same way about body organs and such and they said yes.  I couldn’t believe that was their attitude.  It’s all about the money for them.  They don’t care that their blood could possibly save someone’s life.  All they care about is if they can get money for their blood.  One of my friends said that if someone came up to them and asked for some of their blood because they needed it he would give it to them.  When I told him that giving blood was exactly that he quickly changed the subject.  I refuse to get paid for anything that comes out of my body whether it is blood, bone marrow, plasma, or anything else.  I even forgot to get a free t-shirt after giving blood on Wednesday because I was to caught up in knowing that I just possibly saved a life.  Also that night I didn’t get much sleep because I was suffering from heartburn that I believe was caused by the lack of blood in my system.  But I was still glad that I gave my blood because the suffering that I experienced was only temporary.  Whoever might get my blood probably has been suffering for a long time.  Even though I know that heartburn has nothing to do with the heart I found it ironic that I gave something of mine that might give another person’s heart something to pump.  The Bible teaches us that we need to give without expecting anything in return.  Matthew 10:8 says, “…Freely you received, freely give.” (NASB)  Luke 6:38 says, “Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.” (NASB)  Jesus says in Luke 14:33, “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions”  I’m pretty sure that includes giving away your blood to save a life.  Acts 20:35 says, “In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (NASB)  The Bible also has something to say about being greedy.  Jesus says in Luke 12:15 to “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” (NASB)  Ephesians 5:3 says, “…immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints;” (NASB)  Proverbs 11:6 also says, “The righteousness of the upright will deliver them, But the treacherous will be caught by their own greed.” (NASB)  As one can see the Bible condemns greediness.  If you have this type of attitude when it comes to giving blood or anything else for that matter I pray that you would reconsider.

            Now, totally off the subject, I found a pretty cool animation yesterday on the internet to the song The Lighthouse’s Tale by Nickel Creek.  I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9Zxq3eSaP0

Blessings,

Matthew Smith