Today was the launch of an event my division is handling and similar to other launches/closing ceremonies, there is the usual pandemonium of ensuring all details are in place so that things will run smoothly and that all our invited VIPs will have a comfortable time and hopefully leave with pleasant memories of our organisation.
There was however real difference in this event from other similar launches that I should have anticipated, which affected me spiritually, more than I had expected.
The first was the fact that one of our invited plenary speakers, Mr B is a successful entrepreneur with a difference - he suffered spinal injuries that left him paralysed from the waist down. Yet, armed with determination that he would adapt to the environment and not the other way round, he denied all modifications to his home, continued living in his home which was not served by the lift (that left him having to negotiate the stairs with his wheelchair), started his business specialising in ginseng with his wife and was the first Asian to crawl through burning coals in Anthony Robbins' Unleash the Power Within seminar as part of the firewalk in 1999.
I felt a sense of respect and kinship with him when I read his profile. Kinship because it brought back memories of my own firewalk (walking, not crawling it) in 2001 as part of the same seminar and in fact still bore a scar to when I took my first step of it in fear. Looking at the 25m stretch and legs wobbly with the fear that I would fall halfway through the pit, that first step burnt away my fear and brought my mind to the sharp reality of the 25m ahead of me. "Cool moss, cool moss..." my mind went as I took step by firm step forward, my feet now amazingly unhurt by the hot coals beneath my feet. Although I no longer totally agree with all he teaches, that scar continues to remind me of the truth that focus on fear is not the solution, rather, we're reminded that "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." (Phil 4:8)
Respect because I realised Mr B had to conquer so much more fear in crawling through the firewalk. I could imagine his hands acting as his feet, taking the whole weight of his body, step by single step, dragging the entire lower half of his body through the fiery pit. The heat of the coals, while unfelt on my face must have reached his, bringing the increased awareness of danger. Remembering the pain I had experienced when I let fear overcome me, I could imagine the pain and area inflicted magnified if he had allowed the same fear.
A man like Mr B made me very appreciative of the gifts that God had given me and allowed to retain in my life. His personal example also gave me the awareness that "if he can do it, so can I!" That determination to make full use of his life and his God-given faculties gave added meaning to the phrase "to live is Christ, to die is gain." It gave me the added impetus to know my gifts and weaknesses so that I may fully function in the purpose He had given to my God-given life.
The second was the performance by a group of very special youths, a dance item by intellectually-challenged youths. Their faces and mannerisms immediately broadcasting their differences, their enthusiastic styles though broadcasted their zeal for life and their pride at being part of this performance that made me want to laugh and cry at the same time.
It made me realize how small alterations in our DNA or minute changes in other circumstantial factors can make huge differences in our biological make-up and how grateful we should be to be given our full faculties and thus the bedrock of our current socio-economic situation because
"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.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. " (Ps 139:13-16)
In view of the care He had taken in creating and maintaining us, by His thought and breath we were made, isn't it natural that our response should be:
"How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.
If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name.
Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you?
I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." (Ps 139:17-24)
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