So this doctor has a debilitating condition that has rendered him bedridden. He felt as if God had placed him on a shelf. Then he was reminded that God expects us to share our faith--no matter our circumstances. He asked God to be used in spite of his condition--and now God is using him amazingly.
An incredible Perspective Check. And a great encouragement.
http://www.saddleback.com/mc/m/c1444/
Saturday
Are you doubting your uniqueness?
Enjoyed the movie "Fame" today.
In whichever incarnation I've ever seen it (the television series, the film clips, the stage musical), I always love to see how these characters acknowledge their uniqueness and thrive because of it.
In the re-make of the film, the acting teacher says to one of his students,
-All of those things that you want to change about yourself...THAT is your power.-
Remember this today. Your uniqueness is your power. It is meant to strengthen and not diminish you.
You are unique and amazing. Because this is how you were created.
"For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well."
Psalm 139: 13-14
Don't ever think you're Ordinary.
And don't ever change those good, different things about you.
In whichever incarnation I've ever seen it (the television series, the film clips, the stage musical), I always love to see how these characters acknowledge their uniqueness and thrive because of it.
In the re-make of the film, the acting teacher says to one of his students,
-All of those things that you want to change about yourself...THAT is your power.-
Remember this today. Your uniqueness is your power. It is meant to strengthen and not diminish you.
You are unique and amazing. Because this is how you were created.
"For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well."
Psalm 139: 13-14
Don't ever think you're Ordinary.
And don't ever change those good, different things about you.
Thursday
George Eliot said, "It's Never Too Late to Be What You Might Have Been"...
A Masters Rookie Lives His Dream at 39
By BILL PENNINGTON
New York Times
AUGUSTA, Ga. — A week ago Steve Wilson was in his Mississippi gas station and convenience store preparing his customers’ favorite item: a hot-pressed roast beef po’ boy sandwich with gravy.
On Thursday, Wilson will step onto the first tee at the Augusta National Golf Club with the two-time Masters champion Tom Watson and the Englishman Ian Poulter as partners. Wilson, a 39-year-old amateur and gas station owner who has been having reoccurring nightmares about a golf ball that refuses to go in the hole, will be a Masters tournament rookie.
As Wilson said in a modest drawl as he stood beside the imposing Augusta National clubhouse: “You can’t make a story like this one up.”
The Masters is golf’s only major championship that is a true invitational and as such is less open to the dreams of everyday players who want to qualify. But there are a few little-known exemptions and one goes to the winner of the United States Mid-Amateur Championship, a distinction Wilson, an unexceptional college golfer and a washout on the minor league pro tours, earned last September.
No golf round has been the same since for Wilson, even casual outings near his home in Ocean Springs, Miss., a Gulf Coast city east of Biloxi.
"Since September, even when I’m playing locally, I’m thinking about the Masters," Wilson said. "I wonder about the speed of the putts. I wonder how to handle the length of the golf course."
And at night, his subconscious apparently wonders about how to get through it all. His golf dreams are often the same, night after night. Wilson is putting on a green but the hole is in a large, tall glass suspended above the ground. There is no way to putt the ball into it.
"I hit the ball and it always just rolls on by," Wilson said, laughing at his own subliminal futility.
Wilson was not a fluke winner of the Mid-Amateur, which is a match-play event open to amateurs at least 25 years old. He trounced the competition last year as it concluded at the Milwaukee Country Club, never trailing in his last three matches.
Wilson grew up playing with his father on military base golf courses and though he attended two Mississippi colleges, he was not a high-level player at either.
“I couldn’t break 80,” he said.
But he kept at the game and made progress, earning a local reputation as a long hitter and a tough match-play competitor. He spent the next 10 years making irregular attempts to break through on the mini-tours that served as the PGA Tour’s minor leagues, without notable success. Off the golf course, Wilson now had a real job, running a gas station and convenience store called Fayard’s BP. He had gotten married and nine years ago had a son, Gavin. Golf was not the priority.
"I was working a lot," he said.
Four years ago he informed the United States Golf Association that his PGA Tour dream was dead and he relinquished his pro status. Not long after, Wilson’s nervous putting improved and he started winning a number of Gulf Coast tournaments. That led to the assault on the Mid-Amateur title.
"People ask if I’m a late bloomer," Wilson said. "Maybe I’m a slow learner."
He is trying to make up for lost time at Augusta National, having played at least 15 practice rounds there since September.
"There is so much to take in," Wilson said. "Super-fast greens and a long course. At the same time, you catch yourself looking around and remembering all the great golf shots that have happened on the holes as you walk them."
Wilson hasn’t let his awe keep him from having a good time. On Wednesday, his son Gavin was wrapped in one of the conventional Masters white jumpsuits, caddying for his father during the par 3 course contest, which is attended by thousands. Wilson signed hundreds of autographs as he went from hole to hole. Gavin was asked to sign, by his estimate, about 80.
"I was on national TV," the young boy said.
Wilson stood behind his son beaming.
"This is a dream of a lifetime," he said.
Wilson’s primary goal this week is to play well enough to make the cut so that he could still be roaming the Augusta National grounds during Sunday’s final round.
"I know that’s a long shot," he conceded.
On Tuesday, Tiger Woods was asked if he could relate to Wilson since Wilson owned a gas station while Woods, as the questioner put it, "could probably buy the oil company."
Woods laughed but then noted that the two made their Masters debuts at different ages: Woods as a teenager, Wilson at nearly 40.
On Wednesday, Wilson said his age was an advantage.
"I can’t imagine coming here for the first time at 19 years old," he said. "There is no way I could have hit the ball."
Did he mean he couldn’t have hit the ball at all?
"Maybe," Wilson answered. "They definitely would’ve needed more medical staff out here. It’s not your average day at work."
Perhaps, although Wilson’s Mississippi family and friends at Augusta this week don’t view him as average in his every day job. The word is Steve Wilson makes a mean roast beef po’ boy.
By BILL PENNINGTON
New York Times
AUGUSTA, Ga. — A week ago Steve Wilson was in his Mississippi gas station and convenience store preparing his customers’ favorite item: a hot-pressed roast beef po’ boy sandwich with gravy.
On Thursday, Wilson will step onto the first tee at the Augusta National Golf Club with the two-time Masters champion Tom Watson and the Englishman Ian Poulter as partners. Wilson, a 39-year-old amateur and gas station owner who has been having reoccurring nightmares about a golf ball that refuses to go in the hole, will be a Masters tournament rookie.
As Wilson said in a modest drawl as he stood beside the imposing Augusta National clubhouse: “You can’t make a story like this one up.”
The Masters is golf’s only major championship that is a true invitational and as such is less open to the dreams of everyday players who want to qualify. But there are a few little-known exemptions and one goes to the winner of the United States Mid-Amateur Championship, a distinction Wilson, an unexceptional college golfer and a washout on the minor league pro tours, earned last September.
No golf round has been the same since for Wilson, even casual outings near his home in Ocean Springs, Miss., a Gulf Coast city east of Biloxi.
"Since September, even when I’m playing locally, I’m thinking about the Masters," Wilson said. "I wonder about the speed of the putts. I wonder how to handle the length of the golf course."
And at night, his subconscious apparently wonders about how to get through it all. His golf dreams are often the same, night after night. Wilson is putting on a green but the hole is in a large, tall glass suspended above the ground. There is no way to putt the ball into it.
"I hit the ball and it always just rolls on by," Wilson said, laughing at his own subliminal futility.
Wilson was not a fluke winner of the Mid-Amateur, which is a match-play event open to amateurs at least 25 years old. He trounced the competition last year as it concluded at the Milwaukee Country Club, never trailing in his last three matches.
Wilson grew up playing with his father on military base golf courses and though he attended two Mississippi colleges, he was not a high-level player at either.
“I couldn’t break 80,” he said.
But he kept at the game and made progress, earning a local reputation as a long hitter and a tough match-play competitor. He spent the next 10 years making irregular attempts to break through on the mini-tours that served as the PGA Tour’s minor leagues, without notable success. Off the golf course, Wilson now had a real job, running a gas station and convenience store called Fayard’s BP. He had gotten married and nine years ago had a son, Gavin. Golf was not the priority.
"I was working a lot," he said.
Four years ago he informed the United States Golf Association that his PGA Tour dream was dead and he relinquished his pro status. Not long after, Wilson’s nervous putting improved and he started winning a number of Gulf Coast tournaments. That led to the assault on the Mid-Amateur title.
"People ask if I’m a late bloomer," Wilson said. "Maybe I’m a slow learner."
He is trying to make up for lost time at Augusta National, having played at least 15 practice rounds there since September.
"There is so much to take in," Wilson said. "Super-fast greens and a long course. At the same time, you catch yourself looking around and remembering all the great golf shots that have happened on the holes as you walk them."
Wilson hasn’t let his awe keep him from having a good time. On Wednesday, his son Gavin was wrapped in one of the conventional Masters white jumpsuits, caddying for his father during the par 3 course contest, which is attended by thousands. Wilson signed hundreds of autographs as he went from hole to hole. Gavin was asked to sign, by his estimate, about 80.
"I was on national TV," the young boy said.
Wilson stood behind his son beaming.
"This is a dream of a lifetime," he said.
Wilson’s primary goal this week is to play well enough to make the cut so that he could still be roaming the Augusta National grounds during Sunday’s final round.
"I know that’s a long shot," he conceded.
On Tuesday, Tiger Woods was asked if he could relate to Wilson since Wilson owned a gas station while Woods, as the questioner put it, "could probably buy the oil company."
Woods laughed but then noted that the two made their Masters debuts at different ages: Woods as a teenager, Wilson at nearly 40.
On Wednesday, Wilson said his age was an advantage.
"I can’t imagine coming here for the first time at 19 years old," he said. "There is no way I could have hit the ball."
Did he mean he couldn’t have hit the ball at all?
"Maybe," Wilson answered. "They definitely would’ve needed more medical staff out here. It’s not your average day at work."
Perhaps, although Wilson’s Mississippi family and friends at Augusta this week don’t view him as average in his every day job. The word is Steve Wilson makes a mean roast beef po’ boy.
We Are "Free", Yet Still Burdened
Give me the courage to live,
Give me the courage to be free
And endure the burden of freedom
And the loneliness of those without chains;
Let me not be trapped by success,
Nor by failure, nor pleasure, nor grief,
Nor malice, nor praise, nor remorse!
Give me the courage to go on!
Head high, spirit winged, like a god--
On...on...till the shadows draw close.
Then even when darkness shuts down,
And I go out alone, as I came,
Naked and blind as I came--
Even then, gracious God, hear my prayer:
Give me courage to live!
Howard Thurman
(1899-1981)
Give me the courage to be free
And endure the burden of freedom
And the loneliness of those without chains;
Let me not be trapped by success,
Nor by failure, nor pleasure, nor grief,
Nor malice, nor praise, nor remorse!
Give me the courage to go on!
Head high, spirit winged, like a god--
On...on...till the shadows draw close.
Then even when darkness shuts down,
And I go out alone, as I came,
Naked and blind as I came--
Even then, gracious God, hear my prayer:
Give me courage to live!
Howard Thurman
(1899-1981)
Sunday
Life is short. Be bold.
I usually encourage people--in an effort to build up their spirit against whatever may weigh them down in this world.
Self-doubt. Illness. Negativity. You name it.
But I feel compelled to encourage you today-- to be bold in matters of the heart.
Be bold for love.
There is a dear friend of mine--who has had a friend for years now. And through the years, she has felt a certain something for him. In the midst of each of them being in a relationship. In the midst of moving. In the midst of work. In the midst of life.
But don't let life--and other people-- convince you of what to do or what to feel.
Deep down, you know what you feel.
Be bold.
Parable Of The Four-Poster
Because she wants to touch him,
she moves away.
Because she wants to talk to him,
she keeps silent.
Because she wants to kiss him,
she turns away
& kisses a man she does not want to kiss.
He watches
thinking she does not want him.
He listens
hearing her silence.
He turns away
thinking her distant
& kisses a girl he does not want to kiss.
They marry each other -
A four-way mistake.
He goes to bed with his wife
thinking of her.
She goes to bed with her husband
thinking of him.
-& all this in a real old-fashioned four-poster bed.
Do they live unhappily ever after?
Of course.
Do they undo their mistakes?
Never.
Who is the victim here?
Love is the victim.
Who is the villian?
Love that never dies.
Erica Jong
Self-doubt. Illness. Negativity. You name it.
But I feel compelled to encourage you today-- to be bold in matters of the heart.
Be bold for love.
There is a dear friend of mine--who has had a friend for years now. And through the years, she has felt a certain something for him. In the midst of each of them being in a relationship. In the midst of moving. In the midst of work. In the midst of life.
But don't let life--and other people-- convince you of what to do or what to feel.
Deep down, you know what you feel.
Be bold.
Parable Of The Four-Poster
Because she wants to touch him,
she moves away.
Because she wants to talk to him,
she keeps silent.
Because she wants to kiss him,
she turns away
& kisses a man she does not want to kiss.
He watches
thinking she does not want him.
He listens
hearing her silence.
He turns away
thinking her distant
& kisses a girl he does not want to kiss.
They marry each other -
A four-way mistake.
He goes to bed with his wife
thinking of her.
She goes to bed with her husband
thinking of him.
-& all this in a real old-fashioned four-poster bed.
Do they live unhappily ever after?
Of course.
Do they undo their mistakes?
Never.
Who is the victim here?
Love is the victim.
Who is the villian?
Love that never dies.
Erica Jong
We All Just Need to be Needed...
This is a short piece that aired on NPR this morning. It's one of the most beautiful messages I know I will ever hear.
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95088503
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95088503
Saturday
Reflecting on Kindness
Below is an e-mail from my friend Meghan,
and then my response to her.
Meghan:
"Have you ever just sat there and watched people and noticed all of the wonderful little gestures that happen? like yesterday - i'm walking across the street to work, and notice a gentleman helping up a lady who had fallen in the street. Thinking it was her hubby, i just thought how nice it was that he helped his wife...until i saw them part ways at the corner. a random stranger had paused in his day to help this woman up. and then this morning on the bus, a girl's bag fell off her lap. The guy sitting across from her picked it back up and handed it to her, and she flashed him this great smile...just a random little touching moment between two strangers. i know it's corny, but little things like that just make my day. There's the homeless guy on madison that always yells out "happy friday" or "happy tuesday" to the commuters rushing to catch the bus. this man always sounds genuinely happy, and his random praise of each day of the week always puts a little spring in my step."
Liz:
"YES, it is amazing that you just said this-- because just within the last week, this man (who may have had Asperger's syndrome) on the bus was almost frantic because he didn't know how he'd get to his friend's house. the bus driver tried to help him, i didn't know the street he needed so i couldn't help him. then this man (who also looked like he had some type of impediment) chimes in and helps him! it was amazing!!!!! absolutely warmed my heart. i am so glad you thought to tell me these stories."
Kindness. It IS all around us. And it's a beautiful thing.
and then my response to her.
Meghan:
"Have you ever just sat there and watched people and noticed all of the wonderful little gestures that happen? like yesterday - i'm walking across the street to work, and notice a gentleman helping up a lady who had fallen in the street. Thinking it was her hubby, i just thought how nice it was that he helped his wife...until i saw them part ways at the corner. a random stranger had paused in his day to help this woman up. and then this morning on the bus, a girl's bag fell off her lap. The guy sitting across from her picked it back up and handed it to her, and she flashed him this great smile...just a random little touching moment between two strangers. i know it's corny, but little things like that just make my day. There's the homeless guy on madison that always yells out "happy friday" or "happy tuesday" to the commuters rushing to catch the bus. this man always sounds genuinely happy, and his random praise of each day of the week always puts a little spring in my step."
Liz:
"YES, it is amazing that you just said this-- because just within the last week, this man (who may have had Asperger's syndrome) on the bus was almost frantic because he didn't know how he'd get to his friend's house. the bus driver tried to help him, i didn't know the street he needed so i couldn't help him. then this man (who also looked like he had some type of impediment) chimes in and helps him! it was amazing!!!!! absolutely warmed my heart. i am so glad you thought to tell me these stories."
Kindness. It IS all around us. And it's a beautiful thing.
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