Fidel's Walk

I just thought I'd gather all the nuggets of useful wisdom I gather as I walk through life. This wisdom may come from sermons, books, friends, etc. It helps me to read thru this again and again so I can grow spiritually and be victorious over the attacks of the Enemy. It's amazing how just one sentence or even one word can change your life forever.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

I Don't Get What I Want

I don't get what I want, I get what I am. Regardless of how much I may want something, I will never get it unless I become like that thing I want. Here are some examples to explain this concept:
  • I may want eternal life, but if I am an atheist then too bad, I am not going to get it.
  • My children may want good grades but if they are not good listeners and studious then too bad, they are going to fail.
  • I may want the best wife in the world but if I am not the best husband in the world, then too bad, I am stuck with a bad marriage.
  • I may want good health, but if I am an alcoholic then I am going to get bad health.
  • I may want a better job, but if I am lazy, then I'll never be happy at any job.
  • I may want happiness in my life, but if I have a bad attitude and am irritable, then I will be dissatisfied with life.

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Let Go and Let God

Will u let God do His thing or will u hold on to your own sense of security?

The cheerful little girl with bouncy golden curls was almost five.  Waiting with her mother at the checkout stand, she saw them, a circle of glistening
white pearls in a pink box.  "Oh mommy please, Mommy. Can I have them? Please, Mommy, please?"  Quickly the mother checked the back of the little foil box and then looked back into the pleading blue eyes of her little girl's upturned face.  "A dollar ninety-five. That's almost $2.00. If you really want them, I'll think of some extra chores for you and in no time you can save enough money to buy them for yourself. Your birthday's only a week away and you might get another crisp dollar bill from your Grandma."
 
As soon as Jenny got home, she emptied her penny bank and counted out 7 pennies. After dinner, she did more than her share of chores and she went to the neighbor and asked Mrs. McJames if she could pick dandelions for ten cents. On her birthday, Grandma did give her another new dollar bill and at last she had enough money to buy the necklace. Jenny loved her pearls. They made her feel dressed up and grown up.  She wore them everywhere, Sunday school, kindergarten, even to bed. The only time she took them off was when she went swimming or had a bubble bath.  Mother said if they got wet, they might turn her neck green. 
 
Jenny had a very loving daddy and every night when she was ready for bed, he would stop whatever he was doing and come upstairs to read her a story.  One night as he finished the story, he asked Jenny, "Do you love me?"  "Oh yes, daddy. You know that I love you."  "Then give me your pearls."  "Oh, daddy, not my pearls. But you can have Princess, the white horse from my collection, the one with the pink tail.  Remember, daddy? The one you gave me. She's my very favorite."  "That's okay, honey, daddy loves you. Good night." And he brushed her cheek with a kiss.  About a week later, after the story time, Jenny's daddy asked again, "Do you love me?"   "Daddy, you know I love you."  "Then give me your pearls."  "Oh Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have my baby doll. The brand new one I got for my birthday.  She is beautiful and you can have the yellow blanket that matches her sleeper."   "That's okay. Sleep well. God bless you, little one. Daddy loves you."  And as always, he brushed her cheek with a gentle kiss. 

A few nights later when her daddy came in, Jenny was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed Indian style.  As he came close, he noticed her chin was trembling and one silent tear rolled down her cheek.  "What is it, Jenny? What's the matter?"  Jenny didn't say anything but lifted her little hand up to her daddy. And when she opened it, there was her little pearl necklace. With a little quiver, she finally said, "Here, daddy; this is for you."  With tears gathering in his own eyes, Jenny's daddy reached out with one hand to take the dime store necklace, and with the other hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue velvet case with a strand of genuine pearls and gave them to Jenny.  He had them all the time. He was just waiting for her to give up the dime-store stuff so he could give her the genuine treasure.
 
So it is, with our Heavenly Father. He is waiting for us to give up the cheap things
in our lives so that he can give us beautiful treasures.  Isn't God good? Are you holding onto things that God wants you to let go of? Are you holding on to harmful or unnecessary partners, relationships, habits and activities that you have come so attached to that it seems impossible to let go? Sometimes it is so hard to see what is in the other hand but do believe this one thing.  God will never take away something without giving you something better in its place.

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Thursday, August 17, 2006

Strongest Dad In The World

Aside from God our Father in Heaven, I do not think any other father has ever done this much for a son. Very, very moving and inspiring. May God himself bless this father and son for giving us such an amazing story.

Watch the video

Download the pdf

Read the story here:

[From Sports Illustrated, By Rick Reilly]

I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay
for their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots.

But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.

Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in
marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a
wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and
pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same
day.

Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back
mountain climbing. Makes taking your son bowling look a little lame,
right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much--except save his life.

This love story began in Winchester, Mass., 43 years ago, when Rick
was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him
brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.

``He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life;'' Dick says doctors told
him and his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. ``Put him in an
institution.''

But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes
followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the
engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was
anything to help the boy communicate. ``No way,'' Dick says he was
told. "There's nothing going on in his brain.''

"Tell him a joke,'' Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out
a lot was going on in his brain. Rigged up with a computer that allowed
him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his
head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? "Go Bruins!''
And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the
school organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, ``Dad, I want
to do that.''

Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described ``porker'' who never ran
more than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still,
he tried. "Then it was me who was handicapped,'' Dick says. "I was sore for
two weeks.''

That day changed Rick's life. ``Dad,'' he typed, ``when we were
running, it felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!''

And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving
Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly
shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.
"No way,'' Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite
a single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a
few years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then
they found a way to get into the race officially: In 1983 they ran
another marathon so fast they made the qualifying time for Boston the
following year.

Then somebody said, "Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?''

How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since
he was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still,
Dick tried.

Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour
Ironmans in Hawaii. It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud
getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you
think?

Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? ``No way,'' he says.
Dick does it purely for ``the awesome feeling'' he gets seeing Rick
with a cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston
Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their
best time'? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992--only 35 minutes off the world
record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens
to be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at
the time.

``No question about it,'' Rick types. ``My dad is the Father of the Century.''

And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had
a mild heart attack arteries was 95% clogged. ``If you hadn't been in
such great shape,'' one doctor told him, ``you probably would've died 15
years ago.''

So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.

Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in
Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass.,
always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and
compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this
Father's Day.

That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really
wants to give him is a gift he can never buy. `The thing I'd most like,''
Rick types, ``is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once.''




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Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Things Appear As You Are

If u r in a bad mood, somethings may appear frustrating. If u r in a good mood, somethings may appear humorous. How you see the world really depends on what type of person u r or how u r feeling. Take the following example:

Two friends of mine came across the same van that was for sale. My first friend is mechanically inclined, my second friend is not. The van needed a brake job but everything else was working properly. My first friend thought it was a bargain because he could easily fix the brakes. My second friend thought it was a rip off because he did not want to inherit someone else's problems.

How u view your circumstances really depends on you, not on what your circumstances are. Someone with a high-paying job may hate the job, whereas someone with a low-paying job may love the job. Someone with well-behaving kids may be frustrated with them, whereas someone with misbehaving kids may think they are the best kids in the world.

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Thursday, August 10, 2006

Principles Over Personality

When you meet someone who may not be appealing to you do not forsake your principles because of the person's personality. You must try to treat everyone the same regardless of how you view that person. First impressions are not always correct. When in doubt, lean on your principles for treating everyone as you would like to be treated. Don't overestimate or underestimate anyone. Some good principles to follow would be: kindness, gentleness, loving, caring, appreciation, compassion, mercy, etc. Everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt. I know I would like for others to practice their principles before responding to my personality. It feels terrible when someone bashes me without really knowing me.

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