Faith is defined in the Bible as the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. You and I could not live without faith, without putting our trust in something for which we have no proof. Most often we talk about faith in terms of religious beliefs, but there are many other types of faith that are part of each day. As a Christian, I live according to my belief in God. Even though I can't see Him or touch Him, I know in my heart that He exists, and I put my future in His hands. I don't know what tomorrow holds, but because I believe in Him, I know who holds tomorrow.
That is one form of faith. I have faith in many areas of my life. I accept that there are certain elements I can't see, touch, or feel, but I believe in them anyway. I trust that oxygen exists, and I trust that science is correct in saying that we need it to survive. I can't see, touch, or feel oxygen. I just know it is there because I am here. If I am alive, then I must be breathing it, so oxygen must exist, right?
Just as we must have oxygen to live, we must trust in certain unseen realities to survive. Why? Because we all face challenges. You have them. I have them. There simply are times in our lives when we can't see a way out, and that is where faith comes in.
I received an e-mail recently from a woman named Katie who had been laid off from her job because of her medical problems, which have included nearly twenty surgeries. She'd been born without a femur bone in one leg, which had to be amputated when she was a toddler. Now in her thirties and married, Katie told me she often struggled with the "Why me?" question.
After watching one of my videos, Katie realized that sometimes we just cannot know "Why me?" We must trust that God's plan for us will be revealed in time. Until then we must walk in faith.
"I thank you with all my heart. I now believe that I, like you, am God's chosen one," she wrote. "One day I hope I'll have the honor of meeting you in person to wrap my arms around, hug, and thank you for helping me open my eyes to see the light."
Katie found strength and hope only after she decided to trust in what she could not see or understand. That's exactly how faith works. You will encounter challenges that initially seem insurmountable. While we wait for a solution, faith may be all we have to hang on to, and sometimes simply trusting that there will be an answer will get you through those darkest moments.
That is why I talk about FAITH as an acronym: Full Assurance In The Heart. I may not be able to produce evidence for all that I believe in, but I feel fully assured in my heart that I am much closer to the truth by living with faith than I would be by living in despair. When I talk to thousands of schoolchildren each year, I often explore the notion of trusting in what we can't see. (Sometimes the little ones are a bit frightened of me at first. I don't know why because we're always about the same height. I tell them I'm small for my age.)
I joke with them until they feel comfortable with me. Once they're accustomed to my lack of limbs, I find most kids are fascinated by my little left foot. I'll see them pointing or staring, so I wave it at them and make a joke about "my little chicken drumstick." That always gets a laugh because the description is quite accurate.
My sister, Michelle, who is six years younger than me, was the first to make that observation. With our brother, Aaron, and our parents, we often traveled on long family trips in which we three kids were packed like cordwood in the backseat of the car. Like most dads, ours didn't like to stop once we hit the road. When we grew hungry, we'd drop big hints to my dad and mum.
When we were absolutely famished, we'd go a little crazy and pretend to take bites out of each other. On one trip Michelle announced that she intended to chew on my little left foot "because it looks just like a chicken drumstick." We laughed about it, but I forgot about her description. Then a few years ago, Michelle brought home a puppy. The little pup tried to chew on my foot whenever I sat down. I'd nudge him away, but he kept coming back to gnaw on it.
"See, it still looks like a chicken drumstick even to my puppy!" Michelle said.
I loved it! Ever since then, I've told that story in my speeches to schoolchildren. But once I introduce my left foot, I ask kids if they think I have just one foot. This question always throws them for a loop because they can see only one foot, but it would make sense for me to have two.
Most kids go with what they can see. They usually tell me they think I have just one foot. I then produce for them Junior, my even smaller right foot, which I normally keep tucked in. Sometimes I shock them by sticking out my right foot and wiggling it. They usually shriek and scream. It's funny because kids are so straightforward. They admit that they have to see it to believe it.
I then encourage them, just as I now encourage you, to trust that there are possibilities for your life. The key to moving forward, even in hard times, is to let your vision for your life be guided not by what you can see but by what you can imagine. That's called having faith.
TRUST IN FlIGHT
My imagination flows through God's eyes. I trust Him. I have full assurance in my heart that even without arms and legs, I can build a wonderful life. In the same way, you should feel that nothing is out of your reach. Have faith that if you do everything you possibly can to achieve your dreams, your efforts will be rewarded.
Sometimes our trust is tested before our hard work pays off. I was reminded of this in 2009 while on a speaking tour of Colombia, in South America. I was booked to speak in nine cities in ten days. With so many miles to cover in such a limited amount of time, the tour booker chartered a small airplane to take us from town to town. There were eight of us on the flights, including our two pilots, both of whom were named Miguel and neither of whom spoke much English. During one of the flights, everyone in the passenger cabin was startled to hear the plane's computer call out an automated warning: "Pull up, pull up!" The alert was in English!
The computer voice tracked our rapid descent with increasing urgency, giving our plane's decreasing altitude. "Six hundred feet!" "Five hundred feet!" "Four hundred feet!" The reports were interspersed with continuing commands to the pilots to "Pull up! Pull up!"
No one freaked out, but the mood in the passenger cabin was more than a little tense. I asked my caregiver if he thought we needed to be translating the onboard computer warnings from English to Spanish for Captains Miguel One and Two.
"Do you think they really don't know we're descending?" he asked.
I didn't know what to think, but since no one else seemed to feel it was a problem, I followed their lead and tried not to freak out. Much to my relief, we soon landed safely. Later when one of our translators mentioned our moment of panic to our pilots, they had a great laugh.
"We knew what the computer was saying, but we always ignore it when we're landing," Miguel Two said through the translator. "You should have more faith in your pilots, Nick!"
Okay, I'll admit, for a minute there I questioned my trust in the flying Miguels. But most of the time I rest assured that God is looking out for me and my life. I'll give you a clue about the strength of my trust: I have a pair of shoes in my closet! I truly believe it is possible that someday I will be able to wear them and walk in them. It may happen. It may not. But I believe the possibility is there. If you can imagine a better future, you can believe it. And if you believe it, you can achieve it.
Unlimited vision.
When I went through my period of depression as a ten-year-old, I wasn't suffering from anything physically. I had no arms and no legs, but I had all I needed to live the rewarding and fulfilling life I have today—with one exception. Back then I was relying only on what I could see. I was focused on my limitations rather than on my possibilities.
We all have limitations. I'll never be an NBA star, but that's okay because I can inspire people to be the stars of their own lives. You should never live according to what you lack. Instead, live as though you can do anything you dream of doing. Even when you suffer a setback or a tragedy, there is often an unexpected, totally improbable, and absolutely impossible benefit to be realized. It may not happen right away. You may at times wonder what good could possibly come of it. But trust that it all happens for the good—even tragedies can turn into triumphs.
SURF'S UP
I was in Hawaii for a speaking engagement in 2008 when I met the world-class surfer Bethany Hamilton. You may recall that she lost her left arm when she was attacked by a tiger shark in 2003.
She was just thirteen years old when that happened. Prior to the shark attack, Bethany was well known among surfers, but after she survived that tragedy and returned to her sport praising God and thanking Him for his blessings, she became admired internationally for her courageous spirit and her amazing faith. Now, like me, she travels the globe to inspire people and to share her beliefs.
Her goal, she said, is "just to tell about my faith in God and to let everyone know that He loves them and to explain just how much He took care of me that day. I shouldn't be here because I lost seventy percent of my blood that morning."
I'd never heard the whole story of what happened that day until our meeting, and I had not realized how close this awesome young lady came to dying. She told me how she prayed as they rushed her to a hospital forty-five minutes away and how her paramedic whispered encouraging words of faith into her ear: "God will never leave you or forsake you."
Things were looking pretty grim. When they finally arrived at the hospital and hurriedly prepped her for surgery, they found that all of the operating rooms were being used. Bethany was fading fast. But one patient gave up his knee surgery, which was just about to get under way, so his doctor could operate on Bethany. Guess who it was?
Bethany's own dad!
Amazing, isn't it? The surgeon was prepped and ready to operate, so they just switched daughter for dad and went to work. The operation saved her life.
Since she was such a healthy, athletic girl and had such an amazingly positive attitude, Bethany bounced back faster than any of her doctors expected. She was surfing again just three weeks after the attack.
During our visit Bethany told me that her faith in God led her to conclude that losing her arm was part of His plan for her life. Instead of feeling sorry for herself, she just accepted it and moved on. In her first competition against many of the world's best women surfers, she finished third—with only one arm! She says that the loss of her arm is a blessing in many ways because now whenever she does well in a competition, it inspires other people that their lives have no limits!
"God has definitely answered my prayer to use me. He speaks to people when they hear my story," she says. "People tell me that they have drawn closer to God, started to believe in God, found hope for their lives, or were inspired to overcome a diffi cult circumstance. I just praise God when I hear that because it's not me doing anything for them—God is the One Who is helping them. I'm so stoked that God would let me be a part of His plan."
You can't help but be stoked by Bethany's incredible spirit. Few would have blamed her if she'd quit surfing altogether after the shark attack. She had to learn how to balance on a surfboard all over again, but that didn't faze her either. She trusted that even though something terrible had happened to her, good could come of it.
RIDING THE WAVES
Remember this amazing girl's faith whenever life jumps up and takes a bite out of your plans and dreams. It will happen. We all get hit by unexpected waves now and then. Chances are your problem won't be a shark, but whatever knocks you down, think of this gritty teenage girl who not only survived an attack from one of nature's most ferocious predators but bounced back more determined than ever to lead an awesome life.
Bethany inspired me so much that I asked her to help me do something I'd always wanted to try. Would she teach me to surf? To my amazement, she promptly offered to take me out on Waikiki Beach.
I was psyched at the prospect of learning to surf in the historic place where Hawaiian kings and queens first rode atop waves. I also was more than a little nervous. As Bethany waxed a longboard for me, she introduced me to surfing stars Tony Moniz and Lance Hookano, who would be joining us in the water.
As I've mentioned, when you find yourself wondering whether you will be able to accomplish your goals in life, trust in people who are willing to lend you a hand and who can serve as your guide. That's exactly what I did in approaching this goal. I could not have asked for better surfing buddies. They started me practicing by balancing on my board in the grass.
They took turns riding with me, giving me instructions and cheering me on. As we were wading into the ocean waves, I was struck by the scary thought that the two of us had only three limbs between us—and they were all Bethany's! I loved the idea of being a surfer dude, and as a strong swimmer, I have no fear of the water, but I wasn't sure I could stay on a board atop the waves even with all the expert help. On one trip I did a 360-degree turn with one of my instructors on board. On another I hopped off my board and onto Bethany's board while surfing!
Eventually I wanted to try it by myself. I can't help it—I'm a ham. Finally everyone agreed I was ready to surf solo. To help me get up on my own once I caught a wave, they created a small platform by duct-taping a few folded towels to the front of my surfboard, which I felt confident would help me bring myself up. Then, once I built up some speed on a wave, I could leverage my shoulders against the towels and inch up into a standing position. Where there is a will and a wave, there is a way!
A surfing competition was being held that day at Waikiki, and a crowd began to gather, watching us. Though it made me nervous, I was getting plenty of advice from the experts.
"Are you really going to try this on the water, dude?"
"Dude, I don't know how you can stay balanced without arms and legs!"
"Can you swim, dude? Can you swim faster than a shark, dude?"
Once we were out on the water, I actually felt better. I am very buoyant, so floating and swimming is not a problem. I also tend to drift, so I never know where I might end up. I had visions of floating back to Australia and washing up in my parents' backyard!
It was a gorgeous day. Bethany was in the water alongside me, encouraging me, but whenever I tried to catch a wave and stand up, I'd fall off my board. Six times I tried. Six times I wiped out.
I couldn't give up. Too many people were watching. Too many cameras were rolling. I was not about to be featured on YouTube as the disabled dude who couldn't hang two. As a kid I'd spent a lot of time skateboarding, so I was getting a good feel for it. Finally on my seventh attempt I caught a big wave and brought myself up. It was such a thrill, I don't mind telling you that I screamed like a schoolgirl as I stood atop that board coming into the beach.
Everyone watching along the beach cheered and whistled as I surfed in. I was stoked! I know that because everyone told me, "Dude, you are a stoked dude!"
For the next two hours we caught wave after wave, making nearly twenty rides. There were several photographers on the beach because of the competition, so I became the first rookie surfer ever to be featured on the cover of Surfer magazine. I toweled off from a great day on the water.
Later in an interview Lance Hookano made an interesting observation. "I've been on this beach my whole life," he said, "and I've never been a part of something like this. Nick is one of the most stoked people I have ever seen. He loves it. He's got salt water running through his veins. It makes me think anything's possible."
Hold that thought: Anything is possible. When you feel wiped out and blown away by a huge challenge, trust that anything is possible. You may not see a way out at the moment. You may feel that the whole world is lined up against you. But believe that circumstances can change, solutions can appear, and help can arrive from unexpected places. Then anything is possible!
If a bloke with no arms and no legs can learn to surf on one of the world's greatest beaches, anything and everything is possible for you!
FAITH TAKES ROOT
One of the most familiar stories from the Bible is the Parable of the Sower. A farmer sows seeds all over the place. Some fall on the road, where birds eat them. Some fall on rock, so they never take root. Others fall into thorny weeds that choke off their growth. Only the seeds thrown on good soil are able to grow and produce a crop and create many more seeds than were originally sown.
We not only receive seeds in our lifetime, we also hold them in the "good soil" of our hearts. When challenges get us down, we can look to our dreams of a better life. These dreams act as seeds for the realities that will come. Our faith is the rich soil that brings those seeds to life.
Those who loved me always encouraged me. They planted seeds in my heart. They assured me that I had blessings that could benefit others. Some days I believed them. Some days I didn't. But they never gave up on me. They knew that at times they were planting on pavement, or in the weeds. Yet they trusted that their seeds would take root.
My family planted seeds every morning as I went off to school: "Have a good day, Nicholas! Do your best and God will do the rest!"
There were days when I'd think, Yeah, yeah, God has a mean sense of humor because I know I'll be teased today on the playground.
Sure enough, as soon as I rolled onto the school grounds in my wheelchair, some jerk would be telling me I had a flat tire or that they wanted to use me as a doorstop in the library. Very funny.
On those days of discouragement, the supportive words from my parents fell on hard ground. There was nothing to nurture them. I was too bitter at the circumstances I'd been born into.
But in the months and years following my bad trip to the bathtub, more and more of their encouragement fell on fertile ground. Part of it was that I won over my classmates with my determination and outgoing personality. I still had my down days, but I had fewer of them.
The great inspirational author Norman Vincent Peale once said, "Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark your life seems to be, raise your sights and see the possibilities. Always see them, for they are always there."
You may never be a Presbyterian or a Rotarian, but you should always be a card-carrying Possibilitarian. Without trust in the possibilities for your life, where would you be? Where would any of us be? Our hopes for the future give us momentum. They keep us moving forward through the inevitable hard times, the discouragement, and the despair.
My Possibilitarian tendencies showed up early in life. I was six or seven when I wrote and illustrated my first book. The title was The Unicorn That Had No Wings. It's no deep mystery where I came up with that concept, but I have to say that my little parable drawn from my own life still offers a nice message about faith. (Don't worry. It's short. I was only six when I wrote it.)
Once there was a mother unicorn who was having a baby.
When the unicorn grew, it didn't have any wings.
The mother unicorn said, "What happened to her wings?"
When the unicorn went for a walk, she could see unicorns flying in the sky. Then a little boy came to the unicorn and said: "What happened to your wings?"
The unicorn answered: "I didn't grow any wings, little boy."
Then the little boy said: "I'll try and make you someplastic wings."
It took him an hour to make the plastic wings for the unicorn.
When the boy was finished, he asked the unicorn if hecould go on the unicorn's back, and the unicorn said to the boy: "Yes you can."
So they went for a run, then the unicorn started to fly, and the unicorn shouted: "It worked. It worked."
When the unicorn stopped flying, the boy got off the unicorn's back. Then the unicorn went back in the sky.The little boy said to the unicorn. "Congratulations, unicorn!"
The little boy went back home. He told his mum and his two sisters and his brother what had happened to the unicorn.
The unicorn lived happily ever after.
The End
We all wish to live happily ever after. Even if you believe you can handle the hard times and savor the good times, disappointments will occur. But the happy ending should always be your goal. Why not shoot for it?
PATIENCE REWARDED
My team at Life Without Limbs helped me plan a World Outreach Tour in 2008 with the goal of visiting fourteen countries. In the early planning, we set a budget and held a fundraising campaign to cover our expenses for the trip. We didn't have professional fund-raisers on staff then, and we fell far short of our goal. We raised only about one third of what we felt we needed. I forged ahead and started the tour with visits to Colombia, Ukraine, Serbia, and Romania. When I returned home, my advisers were concerned that we didn't have the funds to continue with the rest of the tour.
My uncle Batta is a successful businessman in California, and he serves on my board. He made an executive decision to cancel two major stops on the rest of my planned tour. Money was not the only reason.
"We are getting more and more reports that it might not be safe to travel because of unrest in India, especially Mumbai, and Indonesia," he said. "Since we are short of our budget anyway, I think it would be wise to visit those countries another time."
My uncle is a very wise man, and I didn't argue with him. I told him that I trusted him. Then I went to a speaking engagement in Florida, where there were 450 volunteers just to handle the huge crowd. I was there to inspire them, but my audience charged me up with their enthusiasm. On the way home to California, I was so encouraged by the reception I received in Florida that I felt an overpowering need to continue our world tour as planned.
I prayed and prayed for guidance. I felt that I should go to India and Indonesia despite our insufficient funds and the signs of danger. I believed we could serve others and the rest would take care of itself. Uncle Batta invited me to dinner at his home to discuss my desire to continue based on faith and not on funds.
As we were talking over dinner, I became very emotional about the situation. I just felt so strongly that this was something I needed to do. Uncle Batta understands me and my drive to bring my message to as many people as I can.
"Let's see where the Lord leads us in the next few weeks," he said patiently.
You don't give up when faced with challenges. You don't run away from them either. You assess the situation, look for solutions, and trust that whatever happens, it will come together for the good. Patience is essential. You plant the seeds. You weather the storms.
You wait for the harvest. Mostly when you encounter an obstacle, you don't do anything foolish. You don't bash your head against it. You don't turn around in defeat. You look for the best solution while trusting that every obstacle serves a purpose.
When the money wasn't there to complete our world tour, we didn't rush out and spend money we didn't have. We prayed. We looked for solutions. We believed that if the door remained closed for now, it would one day open to another opportunity.
The important point to remember is that you will always find a way as you keep looking for it. You may have to adjust your goals to the realities. But as long as you keep breathing, you should remember that the possibilities are still there.
That said, I've got to tell you this: We didn't receive a single answer to our prayers for a way to finance the rest of tour. But then an amazing series of events unfolded.
A few days after my dinner with Uncle Batta, a fellow named Bryan Hart, who'd heard me speak in Florida, called and offered our foundation a large sum of money as a gift.
Then our contacts in Indonesia called to say that they'd rented out two stadiums for us in Hong Kong. They promised to make sure our costs were covered if we came.
Two days after that a California charitable organization came up with an even greater sum that covered the remaining costs for the trip!
Within days money was no longer an issue. We still had security concerns about some of the places where we were going, but we put our trust in God.
SAVING GRACE
Remember when I said it all came together for the good? Because of the money shortage, we had changed our schedule for India, but when funding became available, we rescheduled our visit there and actually made it a week earlier.
That change in schedule may well have saved our lives. Just a couple days after we were in Mumbai, three of the locations we visited were hit by terrorists. The Taj Hotel, the airport, and the southern Mumbai train station were among their targets in attacks that killed 180 people and left 300 injured.
Our original schedule would have had us in Mumbai, at those very locations, during those attacks. You might say we were lucky, but I believe God had a plan that we could not see. That is why it is so important to have faith in the future and to keep working toward your goals even when the odds seem stacked against you.
A FOOT UP ON LIFE
I began this chapter talking about my left foot, a very useful little appendage. I've learned to be very thankful for my left foot because innovators are busy inventing nifty gadgets that work just perfectly for it. Joysticks and touch screens are some of the handiest foot devices to come my way. Even without arms and legs, I can now experience life in ways that my parents and I never would have imagined when I was a child. Though the possibilities for my life may have seemed narrow back then, the limits have been fading away thanks to modern technology and the power of believing and achieving.
As difficult as your life can be, as cruel and unrelenting as it may get, you should hang in there. My situation seemed bleak when I first came into this world, but I have managed to carve out a fulfilling life with many rewards. And if you think I'm an exception, consider the accomplishments of one of my personal heroes, the late Christy Brown.
Born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1932, Christy was the tenth of twenty-two children in his family, though only thirteen of them survived to adulthood. Christy entered the world with all his limbs, but he was terribly crippled, so much so that he could not move and could only barely utter sounds. At the time the doctors did not know what was wrong with him. Years later he would be diagnosed with an especially severe form of cerebral palsy.
Because Christy could not speak clearly, doctors thought for years that he was mentally handicapped too. His mother insisted that he had no problems mentally—he just could not communicate. She and other family members worked and worked with him. Then one day while Christy was trying to get something across to his sister, he grabbed a piece of chalk from her with his left foot. Due to his physical disabilities, it was the only part of his body he could control.
Christy learned to write, draw, and paint with his left foot. His family, like mine, was determined to give him as normal a life as possible, so they hauled him around in an old go-cart and then in a wagon. Like me, he became an avid swimmer. Then his mother met a doctor who helped get him admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital. This doctor later created a hospital for Christy and other cerebral palsy patients.
He also introduced Christy to literature, and several famous Irish writers inspired Christy to express himself as a poet and author. His first book was a memoir called My Left Foot; it was expanded into a best-selling novel, Down All the Days, and was made into a movie starring Daniel Day-Lewis (who, by the way, is the son of one of Christy's literary friends, Cecil). Day-Lewis won the best actor Oscar for his portrayal. Christy eventually published six other books and was also an avid painter.
Think of the long dark days Christy Brown and his family spent wondering what quality of life he would ever have. He could move only one small part of his tormented body. He could make only a few sounds. Yet he became a noted writer, poet, and painter and led an amazing life that was depicted in an award-winning movie!
What lies in store for you? Why would you not stick around to see how your story unfolds?
A FULL VIEW
At times in my childhood I had a limited perspective. My vision of my life was so self-centered that I never dreamed there were other people in worse circumstances than mine, people like Christy Brown. Then, around age thirteen, I read a newspaper story about an Australian man who'd been involved in a horrible accident. As I recall, he was paralyzed, unable to move or talk, and confined to a bed for the rest of his life. I couldn't imagine how horrible that would be.
His story helped to open my eyes and expand my vision. I realized that while my lack of limbs posed many challenges, I still had so much to be thankful for, so many possibilities in my life.
There is great power in believing in your destiny. You can move mountains. My awakening to the fullness of possibilities was a gradual process. At age fifteen I heard the story of the blind man in the Gospel of John. He'd been blind since birth, and when the followers of Jesus saw him, they asked their leader, "Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
It was the same question I had asked myself. Did my parents do something wrong? Did I do something wrong? Why else would I have been born without arms and legs?
Jesus replied, "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents." Rather, he was born blind "but that the works of God should be made manifest in him."
When the blind man heard that explanation, it changed dramatically his vision of his life and the possibilities for it. You can imagine how this parable resonated with me as a teenager, so aware of being different, of being disabled, of being reliant on others. Suddenly I saw a new possibility. I was not a burden. I was not deficient. I was not being punished. I was custom-made for God's works to be made manifest in me!
When I read that Bible verse at age fifteen, a wave of peace swept over me as I'd never known before. I'd been questioning why I was born without limbs, but now I realized that the answer was unknowable to anyone but God. I simply had to accept that and believe in the possibilities that He would present for me.
No one knows why I was born with my disability, just as no one knew why that blind man was born with his. Jesus said it had been done so that the works of God might be revealed.
Those words gave me a sense of joy and a feeling of great strength. For the first time I realized that the fact that I couldn't understand why I have no limbs didn't mean that my Creator had abandoned me. The blind man was healed to serve His purpose. I wasn't healed, but my purpose would be revealed in time.
You must understand that sometimes in life you won't get the answers you seek right away. You have to walk by faith. I had to learn to trust in the possibilities for my life. If I can have that trust, you can too.
Think about it: I had no way of knowing, as a boy, that my lack of limbs would help me offer my message of hope in so many nations and to so many perse people. The hard times and the discouragements are not fun. You don't have to pretend to enjoy them. But believe in the possibilities for better days ahead, for a fulfilling and purposeful life.
A ROLE MODEL
The first time I really witnessed the power of believing in one's destiny was during a high school assembly, when I heard my first motivational speaker. He was an American named Reggie Dabbs, and he had a tough job that day. There were fourteen hundred kids in our school assembly. The air was hot and sticky. The cranky sound system crackled and popped and sometimes just quit.
The natives were restless, but he totally captivated us with his story, telling us that he'd been born to an unmarried teenage Louisiana prostitute who had considered abortion to solve her "little problem." Fortunately for Reggie, she decided to give birth to him. She had no family and no place to live once she became pregnant so she moved into a chicken coop.
Huddled there one night, scared and alone, she remembered that a former teacher, a very sympathetic woman, had told her to call if she ever needed help. That teacher's name was Mrs. Dabbs. She drove from her home in Tennessee to Louisiana, picked up the pregnant teen, and took her home to her own family, a husband and six grown children. Mrs. Dabbs and her husband adopted Reggie and gave him their last name.
The couple instilled in him strong moral values, Reggie said. One of the primary lessons they taught him was that no matter what his situation or circumstances, he always had the choice of responding in either a negative way or a positive way.
Reggie told us that he'd almost always made the right decisions because he had faith in the possibilities for his life. He didn't want to do bad because he believed there was so much good awaiting him. He especially emphasized something that really hit home with me: "You can never change your past, but you can change your future!"
I took his words to heart. He touched all of us. Reggie also helped plant a seed in my mind about having a career as a public speaker. I liked the fact that this humble guy had a positive impact on such a big, fidgety group of people in just a few minutes. And it was also pretty cool that he jetted about the planet just to talk to people—he got paid to give people hope!
As I left school that day, I thought, Maybe I'll have a good story like Reggie's to share someday. I encourage you to accept that you may not be able to see a path right now, but that doesn't mean it's not there. Have faith, your story is still waiting to unfold, and I know it will be incredible!