Erik Weihenmayer Conquers Horizons He Can't See

Erik Weihenmayer has climbed the 7 highest peaks all around the world.  That's pretty cool, but even more thrilling when you learn that Erik is blind. 

Erik was born with a disease called 'Retinoshisis' that causes blindness.  There is no cure.  He wore thick glasses and learned to read.  By the age of 13, Erik's eyesight was gone.  He didn't want to use Braille or a cane, thinking he could live just as he had when he was sighted.  He tried to play ball, but realized quickly that he had to be able to see to catch.  So he went into wrestling.  After a few years of wrestling, he made it to the National Junior Freestyle Wrestling Championships in Iowa when in High School.  He decided to use a guide dog at that point and enrolled in Boston College, where he earned a degree in English.  He became a Middle School teacher and a wrestling coach and got married. 

Erik got a taste of mountain climbing at a summer camp for the blind when he was sixteen.  He hiked with his father and loved it.  Soon after, his mother died and his father took Erik and his brothers on an expedition across Peru, Pakistan, Spain and New Guinea to give them some bonding time.  Erik fell in love with climbing.  Over the next few years, Erik climbed Mt. McKinley in 1995, El Capitan in 1996 and got married on top of Mt. Kilimanjaro in 1997.  Yes, he married his wife at 13,000 feet elevation!

He kept climbing, reaching the top of Argentina's Aconcagua in 1999, Canada's Polar Circus in 2000, and Antarctica's Mount Vinson.  Now he had conquered the highest mountains in several continents and set his sights on the rest.  In 2001, he struggled to the top of Mt. Everest.  Like the other climbs, it was dangerous, but because of a bad storm that came up, they almost had to abandon this climb.  He arrived bloody and sick from the altitude, but he had made it!  He is the only blind man to ever make it to the summit. 

He reached the top of Australia's Mt. Elbrus and the seventh peak, Russia's Mt. Kosciusko in 2002.  All told, Erik climbed to the top of the tallest peak in each of the 7 continents!  And he did it without his sight.

For blind people, navigating in the controlled world is the easiest.  If you never move your furniture, you can count on it always being in the same place.  City blocks are generally the same size, so you can plan for curbs after so many steps.  And curbs are all about the same height.  In nature, things vary and have no uniformity.  For Erik to choose mountain climbing as his field of expertise is amazing.  A fellow climber said, "Watching Erik scramble up a rock face is a little like watching a spider make its way up a wall," according to Time [Magazine]. "His hands are like antennae, gathering information as they flick outward, surveying the rock for cracks, grooves, bowls, nubbins, knobs, edges and ledges, converting all of it into a road map etched into his mind." 

The real irony is that most mountain climbers do it for the view at the top.  Erik does it for other reasons, as he can't see the view.  He said, "I like doing things that are new and thrilling. Blindness is just a nuisance." In climbing, "you just have to find a different way of doing it."  Erik has written books and speaks motivationally.  He has also led expeditions for the blind. 

Erik shows us that doing hard things makes us stronger.  We can do the hard things in our lives.

Kyle Maynard Crawls up Mt. Kilimanjaro

Kyle Maynard, the congential quadruple amputee has climbed to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro!  Well, actually he crawled to the top.  Remember, no arms or legs…  An article was published in yesterdays' local paper.  (Gwinnett Daily Post Sunday January 29, 2012 1C and 4C.)  It's an amazing feat for a fully-functional person, not to mention how hard it would be for an amputee.  Kyle wore carbon-fiber 'sockets' around his limbs like little shoes to give him traction in his climb.  He said, "I would look up the mountain, I'd look up at the summit and it didn't seem like it was getting any closer.  That was really just a huge mental challenge.  I had to kind of remind myself that it was literally going to happen one step at a time.  Don't be so caught up on the horizon.  Just keep moving."  Kyle is the first amputee to climb Kilimanjaro without use of prosthesis and, as Kyle joked, probably the first man period to be dumb enough to crawl to the top.  I'm so glad he achieved this big goal!  He shows all of us that we can do hard things.

Jim Ryun Found his Sport and Made History

This week a man came to visit Norcross and spoke to some area coaches.  I didn't know who he was, but Scott did.  Scott got all excited to hear his name:  Jim Ryun.  That's because Jim did something so unusual in the running world in 1965 that inspires people even today.  

Jim was a normal kid growing up in Wichita, Kansas.  Well, except for his hearing loss.  At 4 years old, he had the measles.  It destroyed 50% of his hearing and messed up his equilibrium.  Jim said,  "As a child, I wanted to enter into the classroom discussion. But sometimes, I might hear the question inaccurately and give the wrong answer. After a while, your fellow classmates begin to think you're basically a dummy. When you can't hear, you tend to withdraw."  

His hearing loss may have affected his athletic abilities.  He was cut from his Church baseball team and his Junior High school Basketball team.  He was even cut from his Track and Field teams.  After all of that disappointment, I think I'd quit.  But Jim kept trying.  He joined the Cross Country team and slowly worked up from average to becoming a winner.  After 5 months on the team, Jim won a mile race, the second competitive one he'd ever ran.    

After running in just 4 competitive races, Jim's Coach Bob Timmons saw potential.  About ten years earlier, a man named Roger Bannister ran a mile in less than 4 minutes.  This feat astounded the world.  Experts had previously thought that the human body could not do it; it was simply physically impossible.  But Englishman Roger Bannister did it in 1954, then others did too.  They were all professional athletes, Olympic quality runners with the best equipment and finest coaches around.  And they were extremely proud of this achievement.

Well, Bob Timmons had the idea that Jim could run a mile in less than 4 minutes too.  And it would be the first time that a high school kid had done it.  And the first time any American had done it.  When he told Jim of this goal, Jim was surprised.  He had only run 4 races and had failed at so many other sports.  Could he really do it?   Coach Timmons recalled, "I took Jim aside and told him that eventually he would be a four-minute miler, and that I hoped he would be the first high school boy to break four minutes. But you don't just happen to reach a great goal. You plan, you work. From that second meet on, I urged Jim to think not like a high school sophomore but like a four-minute miler."

Coach Timmons started Jim on a difficult training regiment.  Jim delivered newspapers at 5 am each morning, then came home to lace up his running shoes.  He'd run 6 miles through the streets of Wichita, then head to school.  After school, he trained with Coach Timmons in wind sprints to help him with his weakness of tiring in the last part of the mile race.  Jim hated running alone in the rain or snow on those dark early mornings.  He felt like a freak.  But he kept at it, feeling that he really could reach his goal.  

After months of training, Jim flew to California to run in the Compton Invitational in June 1964.  There he was running against Roger Bannister and a host of other Olympic athletes.  He recalled, "I looked around and asked myself, what am I doing here?"  He came in 8^th place, but his time was 3:59.  He did it!  He was only a 17 year old Junior in High School!  Suddenly he was among the ranks of Olympic quality athletes.  The winner of that race, Dyrol Burlsen said, "There was nothing unusual about my victory. The entire story was back in eighth place. There is simply no way to imagine how good Jim Ryun is or how far he will go after he becomes an adult. What he did was more significant than Roger Bannister's first mile under four minutes."  

In 1965 as a High School Senior, Jim broke the 4 minute mile three more times.  The first time he ran in the Kansas State High School Championship meet against all High School students.  He won by a long lead in 3:58.3 minutes, and this record still stands as the fastest mile in a race among only High School students.  The next race, he came in at 3:58.1; the third was the Compton Invitational again in California.  He had just graduated from High School, 18 years old, and was again running against Olympic-quality athletes.  In fact, he was running against the Olympic Champion, New Zealander Peter Snell.  Jim finished second to Snell with a time of 3:56.8 minutes.

It was just a few weeks later that Jim beat Peter Snell and broke the world record.  It was the AAU Championships in San Diego, California on June 27, 1965.  Jim, an 18 year old recent High School graduate had beaten the Olympic champion!  He ran that race in 3:55.3 minutes, a record that stood until just a few years ago.

Jim went on to win a lot more races and win all kinds of accolades for his running prowess.  He won Track and Field's Athlete of the Year award two years in a row 1966-1967.  He broke the world record for the mile 4 times; once as a High School Senior (3:55.3), twice as a College Freshman and once more as a College Sophomore.  He competed in 3 Olympic games: 1964 (when he didn't make finals); 1968, when he won Silver in the 1500 meter run; and 1972 when he was tripped and eliminated.  He's had his photo on the cover of Sports Illustrated 7 times! 

Today Jim helps hearing impaired children obtain hearing aids.  And he speaks to students in schools for the deaf.  He also speaks publickly to Coaches and urges them to expect a lot out of their athletes, as Jim credits Coach Timmons for much of his success as a runner.  During his visit to Atlanta last week, he told the coaches, "You don't want to rescue your athletes from difficulties.  These are easier lessons now than they are as an adult.  Don't be afraid to challenge them to do something."  He recognized that Coach Timmons and others who encouraged him along the way were gifts that God gave him.  "A lot of people are afraid of failure, but what they really are is afraid of success.  Don't be afraid to dream big."

Jim didn't let his hearing loss prevent him from succeeding as an athlete.  He just had to find the right sport.  He followed the training regiment of his Coach and worked hard to become the winner that he is today.  He did something that many thought was impossible through a combination of hard work, determination and good advice.  That recipe for success applies to many endeavors!

Sources:

Beitzel, Ben.  “Mile Barrier-Breaker Ryun Dares Coaches to ‘Dream Big.”  Gwinnett Daily Post 14 Jan 2012: 4B. Print.

Brown, Gwilym S.  “A Very Fast Crowd at the Tape”  Sports Illustrated 15 June 1964: n. page. Web. 21 Jan 2012.

 “The Magic Miler” Faith Baptist Church Web. 21 Jan 2012.

Michalik, Tom.  “Jim Ryun, One of the Best Two High School Runners Ever” Randolph College.edu.  Web. 21 Jan 2012.

O’Leary, Tom.  “A Kansas Boy with a Man-size Task”  Sports Illustrated 14 Sept 14 1964: n. page. Web. 21 Jan 2012.

Watch Jim run the famous AAU Championship when he won against Olympic Champion Peter Snell 27 June 1965 on UTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ots91-yh_o (or just search his name on Utube.)

Ruby Bridges Blazed a Trail to Desegregation of America's Public Schools

We did service on Martin Luther King day because that's one of the things Martin Luther King taught.  And he helped bring about the changes in America so that everyone would be treated as equals.  So today I wanted to share one of my favorite stories related to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's.  

Ruby Bridges was an ordinary 6 year old African American girl living in New Orleans, Louisiana. But her faith in God was anything but ordinary.  She would rely on that when she started her new school.  All over America, children went to schools in their neighborhoods.  This is just like today, except that when Ruby Bridges was in Kindergarten, neighborhoods were very segregated.  White families lived in neighborhoods and African American families lived in different neighborhoods.  They were in different parts of town and different sizes.  That's because of biases that continued even after slavery ended in the 1860's.  

When the African Americans who had been working as slaves became free, they had no money or other resources to help them get started.  But they knew how to work hard.  In contrast, white people had land, businesses and money.  They had built schools to educate their children.  African Americans didn't go to school—they worked in fields along with their parents as slaves.  The former slave-owning White families had only seen African Americans working in fields and assumed they didn't have the capacity to learn like White children did. 

 Isn't that the strangest idea?  So when the slaves were freed, one would expect that the children would attend the public schools with all of the children.  But the proud white families wouldn't have these former slaves in their schools.  The former slaves kept working in the fields, but now earning money and preparing to buy their own homes and start their own businesses.  As they worked and saved money, they bought homes and established neighborhoods with other African American families.  And they built schools.  Schools have been supported by tax money for many years now, but somehow more money would go to schools teaching White students than the schools teaching African American students.  (Realize that this explanation is an oversimplification of a very interesting complex issue…)

When Ruby Bridges was just about ready to start First Grade, the government decided that it was time to integrate the schools.  Her school district was chosen to be the first to do it.  Even if you lived in a different neighborhood, you could attend a better school.  In her school district, African American students were tested to see if they could succeed at a White school.  Six children passed this test, Ruby being one of them.  (Don't be alarmed that only six passed; remember that the African American schools had inferior textbooks and outdated curriculum.  They were in fact receiving a 'worse' education.)  

Three of the kids were assigned to a particular White school.  Two kids dropped out of the program.  Ruby was assigned to attend the William Frantz Public School, all by herself.  Well, she wasn't alone.  She had lots of policemen to guard her, 4 Federal Agents to walk with her, and her Mom.  But she also had Heavenly Father.  

The first day she went to school, mobs of people lined the streets near the schools.  Police and Federal Agents kept them at bay.  The people yelled terrible things at Ruby, so terrible that Newscasters had to blur the background  sound to  keep from violating decency laws to prepare to show it on TV.  One woman held a coffin with a black doll in it.  This really scared Ruby.  What was the woman saying?  Was someone going to kill her?  Other people threw tomatoes and eggs at her.  They streaked across the building walls.  The sad thing is that most of this came from White mothers!  Other White mothers pulled their kids out of school completely in protest.  Fortunately, Mrs. Henry, Ruby's new teacher, made Ruby feel safe and loved at school.  Riots broke out all over town, causing the police to pull out their riot gear and clamp down on the violence.  

Ruby's mom came on the first two days, but had to go back to work.  On the third day of school, she told Ruby, "Remember, if you get afraid, say your prayers. You can pray to God anytime, anywhere. He will always hear you."  Ruby remembered, "That was how I started praying on the way to school. The things people yelled at me didn't seem to touch me. Prayer was my protection. After walking up the steps past the angry crowd, though, I was glad to see Mrs. Henry. She gave me a hug, and she sat right by my side instead of at the big teacher's desk in the front of the room. Day after day, it was just Mrs. Henry and me, working on my lessons."

Ruby's teacher, Mrs. Henry, taught Ruby alone, as none of the other kids would be in her class.  She encouraged her and supported her.  Ruby couldn't go out to recess with the other kids, so she and Mrs. Henry played games in the classroom.  Because Mrs. Henry was so kind to Ruby, she learned that White people can be nice even though thousands of White people outside were being so mean to her.  On the way to school, Ruby began praying to not only to be unafraid, and also to forgive the White people as they yelled terrible things at her, because she realized they really didn't know what they were doing.  How amazing and profound for such a young girl to understand!  

School ended in June, and when it started in September again, the school was fully integrated!  She had children of all colors in her classroom and there was no mention again of the ugliness that happened the previous year.  Now she could play with the other kids at recess and learn with them in the classroom.  Ruby had done it!  She had blazed a trail for others to follow.  Because of what she did, it was easier for everyone to adjust to having children of all backgrounds in the same classrooms.  

Today Ruby Bridges is a mother and grandmother, and she speaks to people (with Mrs. Henry) about how God fashioned all of his children into different and unique individuals. 

Ruby said, "It turns out that because of what I went through on the front lines of the battle for school integration, people recognize my name and are eager to hear what I have to say about racism and education today. I speak to groups around the country, and when I visit schools, Mrs. Henry often comes with me. We tell kids our story and talk about the lessons of the past and how we can still learn from them today - especially that every child is a unique human being fashioned by God.  I tell them that another important thing I learned in first grade is that schools can be a place to bring people together - kids of all races and backgrounds. That's the work I focus on now, connecting our children through their schools. It's my way of continuing what God set in motion 40 years ago when he led me up the steps of William Frantz Public School and into a new world with my teacher, Mrs. Henry - a world that under his protection has reached for beyond just the two of us in that classroom."

Although Ruby was only 6 years old, she did something really hard.  Fortunately, she wasn't alone.  She had Heavenly Father with her.  Would she have had the courage she did if she had not been taught of God and how to pray?  It's such a blessing to have the gospel in our lives so that we can count on Heavenly Father to strengthen us in our challenges.

Tim Tebow, not Bowing to Critics but to God

Today I want to tell you about a really amazing Christian named Tim Tebow.  He happens to be an NFL football player, currently playing for the Denver Broncos.  But even more remarkable is that he's had such an impact on Football that a pose has been named after him, Bills in two state legislatures have been named after him and a Marvel Comic has been created representing him.   ESPN has even made two documentaries about him!

Tim Tebow was born in the Phillippines while his parents were serving there as Christian Missionaries.   His mother became seriously ill during her pregnancy and doctors advised her to terminate the pregnancy.  She refused.  People told her that her baby would be born with serious disabilities, but she could not be prevailed upon, probably due to their religious beliefs.  Tim was born as a perfectly healthy boy!  Doctors called it a miracle.  Tim would go on to do many other things that would be termed miraculous.

At the age of 6, Tim thoughtfully approached his parents with the desire to commit to Christianity and follow Jesus Christ.  Over the years, his goals became to be right with Jesus and to lead his football team to glory on the field.  As a Homeschooler, in most states he wouldn't be able to play sports with the school teams.  But in Florida, where he grew up, the law allows home schooled students to play on the school teams where they live.  Tim began playing for the local high school team and soon excelled.  His success prompted two bills before Alabama and Kentucky, named the Tim Tebow Bill, to enact legislation to force schools to allow home schooled athletes the right to play on public school teams.  They are still pending. 

Tim's High School teammates either loved him or hated him because he wasn't braggy or proud.  He treated girls properly and publicly shared his commitment to be a virgin.  He wouldn't swear and stayed out of trouble.  The bad kids on the team hated him because Tim showed them that they could behave better.  The good kids were glad they didn't stand alone.  While on his High School team, he began what would later become known as 'Tebowing.'  When he felt like praying, he would drop to one knee, remove his helmet and close his eyes in prayer, even in public places.  Now this is a worldwide phenomenon.  On a website, people post photos of themselves 'Tebowing' everywhere, at the Statue of Liberty, the Parthenon, the Eiffel Tower, and so forth.  Some do it to mock him.  Tim said of this, "I think it's cool.  You don't know the heart of people.  But I tend to think the best of people and believe they are doing it for the best reasons."  'Tebowing' has now been accepted as a verb in the English language by the Global Language Monitor!  So he has created a verb!

After High School, he accepted a scholarship with the Florida Gators and played well for a rookie.  He won the team's Most Valuable Player award three of the four years he played there.  While there, he was awarded the Heisman trophy.  He spent four years there, although he could have quit early and played for the NFL.  Instead, he finished his Bachelors degree in Family, Youth and Community Sciences. 

Tim was drafted by the Denver Broncos in 2010 and is doing very well playing for them.  As of Sunday, they are within striking distance of playing in the Super Bowl!  The Broncos started out poorly this season, but since Tim has taken over as Quarterback, they have won 7 of 8 games.  And many of them have been won in the last quarter as an upset, or a miracle.  This coming weekend they will play their second playoff game, this one against the New England Patriots.  They must win 2 more Post season games to make it to the Super Bowl.  That won't be easy, the teams ahead of them are really strong.  But who knows!

His success has prompted Marvel Comics to create a superhero character (Super Tim) based on him.  You can watch a fun video about it at http://frontrow.espn.go.com/2011/12/super-hero-emerges-from-marvelling-at-tebow/

What I like about Tim Tebow is that he isn't afraid to demonstrate his commitment to his Christian faith.  In fact, he's rather bold in showing it.  He used to paint scriptural references in his eye black (the black lines under the eyes of football players) until the NFL issued the 'Tebow Rule' which effective banned messages in the eye black.  During one game, where Tim put John 3:16 on his eye black, he set off 92 million Google searches for that reference.  That's a lot of people looking up scriptures because of Tim! 

Even when people are ugly back, like they sometimes are to Christians, Tim is kind in return.  A late night talk show host made public fun of Tim (using terrible profanity) when they suffered a loss in their football game on Christmas Eve.  Tim's only response was this, which he tweeted, "Tough game today but what's most important is being able to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas everyone GB2."  (GB2 means 'God Bless' + Go Broncos' = BG2)  There are apparently websites showing this hatred like tebowhaters.com  and a Facebook page "I Hate Tim Tebow."  But Tim is always nice back, just as Jesus would be.  Tim said once, of his detractors, "I know who holds tomorrow.  That's what gives me comfort in all situations, from the praise to the haters."

Some say that this mix of humility and devotion, combined with his public presence makes him like the newest Billy Graham.  It's just great to watch him stand up for his beliefs!  We too can be strong and do our best, but ask for help from God when we need it.  We can be kind to those who are mean.  We can live the gospel in spite of the critics who think we should live the way the rest of the world does. 

Information from:

Gregory, Sean. "Football's Leap of Faith. Does Tim Tebow win with skill, luck-- or a 'miracle'?" Time 19 December 2011: 48-49.

Meacham, Jon. "Tebow's Testimony. What his faith on the field means for the future of American Evangelicalism." Time 16 January 2012: 40-42.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Tebow

http://frontrow.espn.go.com/2011/12/super-hero-emerges-from-marvelling-at-tebow/

Winnie Amacher Johnson understood

Yesterday would have been my mother-in-law Winnie Johnson's 90^th birthday.  I hate to call her that because the term 'mother in law' is generally a negative title, yet Grandma Winnie was very dear to me.  She was nothing like the stereotypical nosey, rude and pushy 'mother in law.'  She was like a mother to me. 

I was always impressed by how kind Winnie was to me and to everyone with whom she spent time.  When I found out more about her life, I understood how she came to be such a kind and loving person.  Apparently, Winnie was always self conscious and felt inferior to her friends.  Her parents were Swiss immigrants who spoke German in their home.  During the war with Germany, many looked down on all people who spoke German, assuming they were German.  So even though Winnie's parents were Swiss, neutral in the war, there was some prejudice.  Winnie's older brother asked the parents to stop speaking German. 

Her mother was different than the mothers' of her friends as well.  Winnie admitted later, "I very seldom ever had friends at my house because my house was so humble I was self conscious about having friends come.  I was embarrassed about my mother when my friends would come.  My mother dressed differently and sometimes when we would come home she would be up gathering eggs at the chicken coop or she would be working in the garden.  None of my friends' parents did these kinds of things.  I remember being self conscious about my mother doing that.  And that I didn't have the things that my friends had.  Their families had cars and when we went places they would come up and get me in their cars.  I never had a car to drive—ever.  I remember feeling like that.  We didn't have much money and I was so worried about what my friends thought of me.  High school was miserable for me."

Winnie's mother dressed very old fashioned because health problems had scarred her arms and legs, and left her with a limp.  While Winnie's friend's moms' all dressed like Lucille Ball or June Cleaver in stylish dresses, Winnie's mom wore homemade, outdated long dresses with long sleeves.  And Winnies' mom braided her hair and piled it on her head like they did in Switzerland.  Her friends mom's all had stylish hairdos and knew how to curl and style their hair.  Winnie's parents were just grateful to be in America with the gospel.  They were poor but they didn't care.  Their lives were hard, but had been much harder in Switzerland.

Winnie added, "It wasn't a good thing for me to be with this group (of friends) because they all had more money and they were all much more popular than I was.  So it really made me feel less adequate.  But they were always nice to me and we stayed friends through the years.  They were the popular girls in high school: the student body officers, the class officers and the homecoming queens.  They were very smart good students.  I didn't go to many dances.  I wouldn't say I was popular.  High school was quite painful for me because my other friends were the popular girls who got all the dates.  I know it was weakness in my character (that I was felt so inferior) because they were always very nice to me."

Because of Winnie's experiences feeling less than her friends, she taught her sons to treat girls carefully.  When there was a school dance, Winnie had her boys ask girls to go with them who might not be asked.  She encouraged her sons to open doors for girls and treat them kindly.  But more than just teaching her sons to treat girls carefully, Winnie treated everyone as if they were special, important and loved.  When Winnie married, she had earned a college degree and had been teaching school.  She happily quit her job to raise a family.  So she showed her children that they were more important to her than her status or career. 

A son in law John wrote, "For Winnie, I do not know a kinder more loving individual.  She has always been my role model for sweetness and thoughtfulness and true devotion to her family."  A granddaughter wrote "I have always been very grateful for the concern and interest you have both (including Grandpa) shown in my life.  I feel very lucky to come from such a wonderful heritage where I can find so much love."

Winnie's daughter Kathy wrote it best, writing, "Mom, your love is a tangible presence for all of us, a great strength in our lives.  You, who always felt that personally you had no talents or abilities, have raised children remarkable in their abilities, each meeting life and its' challenges.  Your great talent is making others feel loved.  What greater talent could there be?  It is the most divine of them all." 

Winnie wrote that some of the hardest times in her life were when she was an insecure high school girl, feeling unimportant and unpopular.  But that time helped her to see clearly the value of each person, especially insecure girls.  Winnie's mom taught her that a day without problems is a day wasted because we learn so much from our problems.  Winnie learned that in her own experience.  Her problems in feeling inadequate helped her love and encourage others so that they (hopefully) wouldn't suffer from feelings of inadequacy as she had. 

We can learn from our difficult experiences and turn them into blessings. 

(Quotes were taken from Winnie's Life History, an oral history taken by Janice Johnson Stauffer in 1997, and from Vere and Winnie's 50^th Anniversary Book of Remembrance, letters to them, 1997.)

Joseph, chosen to 'father' Jesus

I wanted to talk about Joseph, the father who raised Jesus.  He's often overlooked in the story of the nativity, as if he didn't matter in the story so much.  But he did matter.  Without him, the story may not have played out at all.

Joseph was pivotal because he kept Mary alive.  Remember that because people thought she was breaking a big commandment—not to commit adultery—she was subject to penalties under the Jewish law.  In their culture, she was actually subject to being stoned to death!  Adulterers were stoned!  But Heavenly Father had prepared for this by sending Joseph.  

Because Joseph loved Mary and had already asked for Mary's hand in marriage, he became the one who had the right to stone her.  As her fiancé, he suddenly had the loudest voice in the matter.  After an angel came to Joseph and explained that the child she was expecting was the Son of God and He would come to save the world, Joseph believed Mary.  And Joseph knew he couldn't do anything to hurt her.  In fact, Joseph would do all he could to protect her.  So instead of stoning her, or even just allowing the village to stone her, Joseph claimed the child as his child, bringing the shame upon himself instead.  Now everyone in the village thought he also had committed adultery and looked at him suspiciously too.

Additionally, Joseph then protected Jesus when the angel came and warned them to flee to Egypt because Herod was killing all of the Jewish baby boys.  Joseph was a good father to Jesus and taught him how to be a Carpenter.  It must have been humbling to be Jesus' father!  How would you know what to teach him?  

Joseph was carefully chosen to be the earthly father of Jesus.  What an honor that changed Joseph's life forever!  I'm grateful for good men like Joseph who are ready and willing to do what the Lord asks, even if it makes their lives harder for a while.  They trust in God, perhaps not knowing how it will all turn out.  But Heavenly Father knows the end from the beginning and so these men become part of a great work directed by Heavenly Father! 

Jesus, our Savior and a discussion of Fun...

I was talking to my kids the other day about fun.  We were discussing whether we came to earth to have fun or to have joy.  The scripture that came to mind was the one that says, "men are that they might have joy (not fun.)"  Having fun is great, but we are here for bigger reasons.  We were placed here on earth to make a difference.  We each have a mission to perform on earth.  I considered Jesus' life here on the earth.  Did he have a fun life or a life of joy?

I thought how Christ knew about all of the eras of time and could have easily come today so that he could have fun.  Why would he choose to come in the meridian of time when he would have to work hard to have enough to eat to survive?  There were no soft beds or warm houses; no comfortable cars with air conditioning; no free time for leisure or fun.  There were no boogie boards, no snow skis, no jet skis, and no parasails.  If Christ were thinking of himself only, He might have chosen to come now and have a great time playing and having fun.  But thankfully He wasn't thinking of Himself, He was thinking of us.  He said with the Father, "This is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."  He knew why He would come to the earth and it was to help us.  Sure, He found time for fun when possible.  But the big things happened.  He lived a perfect life with no sin, then He taught everyone His gospel during His ministry, He atoned for our sins, then He conquered death with His resurrection.  He accomplished His purposes in the meridian of time because that time and people would be the only time and people that would crucify their God.  It had to be then and there.   It's not that we can't have fun, but we can't be distracted from our missions by it.  We let fun fill the time while we are doing what we came here to do. I think of Joseph Smith and his trials, but he still had time for fun. 

I'm glad that Mary, Joseph and Jesus all chose to play their parts in the unfolding of the greatest story in all of history.  Any one of them could have said they didn't want any part of this story.  Mary was maligned as a sinner.  Joseph carried that stigma with him when he married Mary and took care of Jesus as his child.  And Jesus suffered so much for us.  They all performed their missions on the earth in spite of the personal cost and made our salvation possible.  It is something that should make us very happy!

 

There was a world of people depending on Jesus to do what He agreed to do.  There are people who depend on us to do what we came here to do.  So we can look for ways to make a difference in this world and do our best with our trials. 

Mary the Mother of our Savior Jesus

I wanted to write about a remarkable woman today.  We praise her every Christmas for the gift she gave us.  She gave us the Son of God.  Mary, the mother of Jesus, had to sacrifice a great deal to bring Him to us.

Mary was a young faithful Jewish girl living in a town named Nazareth, just like so many other girls in her faith.  She had to work hard with her family to have enough to eat each day.  She kept the commandments and obeyed her parents.  And she prayed to Heavenly Father.  Still, it must have shocked her to see an angel and have him speak to her.  

More shocking still would be what he said to her.  After telling her she was highly favored of God, he told her she would have a baby and name him Jesus.  He added that Jesus would called the Son of God, and that he would be given a throne and reign over a kingdom that would have no end.

This revelation would have unsettled Mary.  First, that she would become a mother when she had not yet been married.  And yet she would be the mother to a king! 

Her worries were legitimate.  She was subject to being treated badly, even being stoned to death because of becoming a mother before marriage.  And yet, this baby was the son of God!  Surely God would protect and bless her!  That thought must have given her the faith to go on.  Her response to the angel was quick, although these many thoughts must have swirled in her mind.  She said simply, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word."  In the language of the day, she essentially said, "If this is what Heavenly Father wants me to do, I will do it, as I am his willing servant."

Mary lived, but had to live with a bad reputation now.  People probably treated her badly.  You know the rest of the story:  the king announced a tax and that required Joseph to travel to Bethlehem to register with the census and pay his tax.  He took Mary with him.  It was a long journey and she was uncomfortable with her pregnancy.  After days of travel, the time of delivery had come as they came into Bethlehem.  Joseph found a simple stable for her after trying hard to find a room for her anywhere.  All of the inns were full.  

Mary delivered the baby Jesus in the worst of circumstances a new mother could face.  First, she was without her mother, who would have helped her do the work required to deliver a baby.  Second, she was not in a hospital, or even a sanitary home to deliver the baby.  She was in a building that housed animals.  It must have been smelly and filthy by today's standards.  No face masks, no plastic gloves, and no sanitary wipes were around to make the environment sterile.  Mary didn't even have a clean bed to lay in.  Third, she was exhausted from a long journey.  Some say she rode on a donkey, but the bible isn't clear.  She may have walked the whole way!  Even if she rode a donkey, that in itself is exhausting work, perched on an animal as it ambles forward.  If you've ever ridden on a horse for more than a few minutes, you will know how much work it is.  

Jesus came quietly that night in Bethlehem.  Mary must have wondered all the more as they laid him in the feeding trough lined with a shawl, as they didn't want to lay him down on the dirty floor.  By today's standards, they were living like homeless people!  Is this really how it was supposed to all work out?

Yes, it was.  While this was all happening in Bethlehem, in the foothills nearby were shepherds watching their flocks of sheep.  They may have noticed the new star that had appeared in the sky and wondered what it meant.  An angel that told them about the meaning of the star.  A special baby had been born that very night.  He told them that it was a joyful night, as a Savior and King had been born.  He told them where to look and how to recognize Jesus.  As the angel shared this news, the shepherds heard angels in heaven sing hymns of praise.  They hurried to find Jesus just as the angel had described, lying in a manger in Bethlehem.

Mary showed remarkable faith as she did what Heavenly Father asked her to do, and she relied on Heavenly Father to help her fulfill her calling.  She lost her good reputation, her home in Nazareth, and her own dreams to do so.  She went on to care for Jesus, to teach him and to raise him.  The sacrifices she made to 'mother' the Son of God were small in comparison to the honor and privilege it was for her to know Jesus Christ as her son, as only a mother would know Him.

I hope you enjoy this Christmas as a time to celebrate Christ's birth as the tidings of great joy that it really is.  Let's try not to think of our own worries or troubles but to think of God's gift of His son to us.  Know that Heavenly Father is watching over you just as he watched over Mary during Jesus' birth.

Dikembe Motumbo knows how persistence pays off

I wanted to tell you about a really great athlete that I admire.  His name is Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo.  Most people call him by the first two of his names, Dikembe Mutombo.  He was born in the Congo (formerly known as Zaire) to wealthy parents and expected to get an education.  He excelled in school and enjoyed playing Soccer.  

As he grew taller reaching almost 7 feet tall in high school, his parents urged him to play Basketball.  He tried the sport and in his first practice, landed hard on his chin creating a scar that still shows today.  He hated basketball after this happened!  His parents continued to push him to play basketball, not letting up until he became comfortable in the sport.  Later he would thank them for not letting him quit, for knowing what was best for him.

He joined the Zaire international basketball team after High School.  For two years he played on this team with his brother Ilo and learned the sport better.  When the team toured the United States, he met the coach of Georgetown University in Washington DC.  Georgetown University gave him a scholarship to attend school there.  Dikembe wanted to become a doctor and return to his homeland to help care for his sick countrymen.  

His first year in school was difficult, so difficult that he didn't play basketball at all.  He couldn't speak any English, so his classes were hard.  He focused that first year on learning English.  After that, he began to play for the Georgetown team and the NBA scouts started paying attention to him.  He had grown to 7 feet 2 inches tall by then.  Some were skeptical of his ability to play well, in spite of his height, because by then he was 25 years old.  But Dikembe proved to be a quick learner on the court as well.  Soon he was playing center on the court, blocking shots and making more shots.  He ended up getting his college degree in Linguistics (he now speaks English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and 5 African dialects) and Diplomacy.

He was drafted by the Denver Nuggets, and played for them for several years.  He was named the NBA Defensive player of the Year after just a few years of NBA play.  Over his long career, he played for several teams and retired as the oldest player ever!  This is all really remarkable, but it doesn't tell the whole story.  As hard as Dikembe must have worked to be successful in Linguistics, Diplomacy and at basketball, he had to work harder to help the people of his native Congo.

Dikembe was a successful basketball star and now had money to help the people of his homeland.  He had always felt bad that there were so few resources for people suffering from illness in the Congo.  He said, "When people are poor, that doesn't mean they have to receive poor treatment."  He knew that his hometown of Kinshasa had an old poorly equipped hospital.  He decided to build a new high quality hospital there.

In 1997 he announced his plan.  He needed $29 million to build it, and had contributed $3.5 million of his own money towards building it.  He got some donations, but had a hard time raising enough to build it.  He bought a piece of land and finally had enough money in 2001 to break ground.  

That didn't end his problems.  Breaking and clearing the ground allowed refugees from war to come and begin farming the valuable land.  He had to pay them to leave.  Then, because the government saw that the land wasn't being used, they tried to take it back.  Dikembe had to fight to keep the land.  Finally, after donating a total of $15 million of his own money, workers began to build the new hospital in 2004.  It was finished in 2006 and opened to the public in 2007.  It took him ten years to reach his dream of opening a high quality hospital in his hometown!  Now Africans in the area can come to receive medical treatment at this new facility.  It can accommodate 300 patients with new equipment and supplies.  And collaboration with doctors from America and England ensures that patients receive the best treatment possible.  

Dikembe persisted in his difficulties, overcoming first a disdain for his sport, a language barrier and his advanced age to become a basketball great.  Then he overcame several setbacks in his quest to provide his hometown in Africa with a new medical facility.  He could have given up at any point, but persisted until his dreams for himself and his country came true.

Often our best battles are won with patience and determination.  Does it matter if it take a long time to reach our goals?  No.  As long as we persist until we do reach them.

Sources:

 “Dikembe Mutombo”  Wikipedia  Web.  5 Dec 2011.

“Dikembe Mutombo—Develops Basketball Skills.” Sports J Rank.org  Web.  5 Dec 2011.

“Dikembe Mutombo—Growing Up in Africa.”  Sports J Rank.org  Web.  5 Dec 2011.

Marie Curie for a Cure

An anniversary came up this year that we haven't celebrated yet.  It's the Nobel prize that Marie Curie was awarded 100 years ago this year for her discovery of the chemical element Radium.  That's the element behind radiation therapy that has helped many in their battles against cancer.  Since we're still in November, National Chemistry Month, I thought we'd better honor Marie for her great accomplishments.

Marie was born Marie Skladowska in 1867 into a very poor Polish family.  But her parents valued education, both being school teachers.  They made sure she learned as much as she could in school.  But being poor, there was no way that the family could send Marie or her siblings on to college.  Marie's older sister Bronya made a deal with her:  if Marie would help Bronya get through college, Bronya would help Marie.  So Marie took a job as a governess and sent her wages to Bronya, who enrolled in the Sorbonne, the prestigious French college.  By the time Bronya finished her medical degree, Marie was 24 years old.  Bronya now supported Marie in her studies at the Sorbonne.

Marie rented a small attic apartment to attend school in Paris.  In her tiny apartment, it was so cold at night that she piled all of her clothing on top of her bed to stay warm enough to fall asleep.  She spent weekends living at Bronya's home, as Bronya had married a physician.  Marie was from Poland and was now attending a school where French was the language spoken.  Suffering from the cold and having to master a new language didn't dampen her enthusiasm for learning, though.  She wrote, "It was like a new world opened to me, the world of science, which I was at last permitted to know in all liberty."  She was learning from the world's best scientists and that was enough to make her happy!

After finishing her degree in Physics in two years, she turned to Math, obtaining that degree in one year.  She was planning on taking her teachers certification and return to Poland to teach.  But she met a wonderful man named Pierre Curie, a laboratory manager at the nearby School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry.  They found that they had a lot in common.  They married in 1895 and used wedding gifts of money to buy two bicycles so they could take long bike rides together.  He was several years older than she, and had been working on the properties of crystals.  That same year, Pierre submitted his Doctoral thesis which linked magnetism and temperature, which today is known as 'Curie's law.' 

Marie started to look for a subject for her Doctoral studies.  She was fascinated by a new discovery of rays that seemed to come from Uranium.  Antoinne Henri Becquerel had discovered these rays in 1896 and was moving on to other projects.  Marie wanted to find the source of the rays in the ore where the Uranium had been found.  The ore, called 'pitchblende' was expensive, but she obtained enough to get started.  Pierre soon joined her in her research.  Using an 'electrometer' that Pierre and his brother built to measure electrical currents, they began to look for the source of the rays. They soon found that as they removed Bismuth from the pitchblende, the rays increased in intensity.  That meant that there was something else in the ore besides Uranium.  In 1898 they found an element she named 'Polonium' after her homeland of Poland.  A few months later, they found 'Radium,' an element with 300 times stronger rays than Polonium.  She coined the term 'radioactivity' to describe the rays coming off of the elements. 

In order to confirm these new elements, they had to isolate them and get their atomic weights.  They found free slag heaps of ore near a mine in Bohemia, and the mine officials were happy to give heaps of it away.  And they got permission to use an old abandoned shed in the back of the university where Pierre was teaching.  Here they spent days doing hard physical work to remove everything from the ore except Radium.  The shed had only a partial roof and was cold in winter and hot in summer.  It was hard backbreaking work for little Marie.  She'd gather 20 kilos (44 pounds) of ore and put it into a big pot on the ground, add lots of water and bring it to a boil.  She'd stand over it for hours as it boiled, stirring it with a long iron rod as long as she was tall.  (My chemist husband Scott thinks they might have been crystallizing it but wasn't sure.)  Pierre analyzed the compounds they isolated.  At night, when she'd collapse with fatigue, the contents of the shed glowed.  Not only were they working in the shed/lab, but they both were teaching to pay the bills, so they had to divide their time carefully.  And they had a young daughter Irene to care for. 

This crude 'laboratory' was terrible, but apparently it was good enough.  A notable German chemist traveled from Berlin to Paris to see the lab where these amazing discoveries were made.  He wrote, "At my earnest request, I was shown the laboratory where radium had been discovered shortly before.... It was a cross between a stable and a potato shed, and if I had not seen the worktable and items of chemical apparatus, I would have thought that I was been played a practical joke." 

Marie isolated a decigram of pure Radium Chloride, which she analyzed carefully for her Doctoral Thesis in 1903.  She determined that the atomic weight was 225.  The board of reviewers, some of whom would go on to win Nobel prizes themselves, said that what she presented was 'the greatest scientific contributions ever made in a doctoral thesis.'  In 1903, she and her husband Pierre were honored to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, sharing it with Antoine Henri Becquerel for the discovery and research of radiation. 

They continued to research in their little shed, in spite of the prize money they received.  She was able to quit her teaching job, though.  A few years later in 1906, Pierre died in a tragic accident.  Marie took over Pierre's job teaching at the Sorbonne, now the first female teacher ever to teach there.  She continued to research with radiation, noting its use in seeing the interior of the body.  In 1914, when World War 1 broke out, she created radiation-mobiles that could reach wounded soldiers and detect metal shrapnel in their bodies so it could be surgically removed.

In 1911, Marie Curie was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discoveries of Radium and Polonium.  Some chemists believe that her discoveries led to a new epoch in chemistry.  And this was the first time anyone had received  Nobel Prizes in two different disciplines, and now only two have that distinction—she and Linus Paulding, the man who discovered the double helix of DNA. 

Marie Curie's research led directly to the radiation treatments for cancer.  Although she was born poor, she and her sister came up with a plan to combat poverty to get an education.  Although she was born in a country with few opportunities, she moved to one with opportunities and took advantage of them.  And although her lab and equipment were inferior, she discovered two atomic elements now gracing the Periodic Table of Elements.   She did a lot with very little.  And the results of her work has cured millions of people of cancer.

I hope we can all take courage from this amazing woman.  We can do hard things.