Isaiah 41:10 (KJV)Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
In my mind, Christopher Reeves was Super man! My favorite scene in the movie, and it was a scene that resonates in the minds of many marred by tragedy, was the one where Lois Lane runs out of gas and her car slips into a crevice caused by the earthquake. By the time Superman found her she was dead. But, unlike the rest of us, Superman was able to reverse the earth's current to just moments before the quake to find an alive Lois Lane sitting behind the wheel of her car. While, Christopher Reeves could do this in his role as Superman, he knew in real life when his spinal cord injury occurred when he fell off his horse, it wasn't possible to simply get up again. Yet, he refused to lose hope and instead used his name to raise money for spinal cord research. https://www.christopherreeve.org/ On their site was this quote from Christopher Reeves:
"So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.- Christopher Reeve
Through this foundation, we learned some statistics regarding paralysis- that it is more common than previously thought:
According to the study, there are nearly 1 in 50 people living with paralysis – approximately 5.4 million people.
1.)Approximately 1.7 percent of the U.S. population, or 5,357,970 people reported they were living with some form of paralysis, defined by the study as a central nervous system disorder resulting in difficulty or inability to move the upper or lower extremities.
(2)The leading cause of paralysis was stroke (33.7 percent), followed by spinal cord injury (27.3 percent) and multiple sclerosis (18.6 percent). Cerebral Palsy was included in this study because of the varying degree of paralysis it causes.
(3) People living with paralysis have households with lower incomes. Roughly 28% of households with a person who is paralyzed make less than $15,000 per year.
(4) On the employment front, 15.5% of individuals living with paralysis are employed versus 63.1% who are not living with a disability. Additionally, 41.8% of those living with paralysis indicated they were unable to work. For more statistical information I encourage you to go to the Christopher and Dana Reeves foundation.
Christopher Reeves greatest contribution to society may not be his role in Superman, but his desire to leave a lasting legacy so that those suffering from paralysis can maintain their hope of a better tomorrow. In our community of Minneapolis and St. Paul is a young man who has that hope of one day walking again. Jake Jablonsky injured his spinal cord when he was hit in a high school hockey game. Just recently, there was a story about Jake being able to move his toes. Jake, like Christopher Reeves, never gave up hope.
His son, Will Reeve, is one example of someone marred by the tragedy of losing his parents who was taught that tragedy doesn't have to define him.
What many of us discover, myself included, that the choices we make after tragedy occurs determine whether we're on the road leading to destruction (alcohol, drugs, high risk behaviors) or the road leading us to build a living legacy that encourages others in the throes of suffering.
What living legacy do you want to leave your love ones in the face of your personal tragedy? What would your life look like if you worked toward a legacy that honors your loved one? What is the take-away that helps you thrive? Is it developing a ministry that inspires people that hope is possible in the face of tragedy? Is it a career that helps make the world a better place?
Like Will, what would you write to your 13-year old self to encourage him or her in the face of tragedy?
The beauty of my faith is the hope that lies within me- a hope that grows daily as I walk with my living Savior, Jesus.
Like Will, your life doesn't have to end with the sirens the night tragedy occurred! For ideas on how you can be a legacy I encourage you to look at this site. http://inheritanceofhope.org/
No comments:
Post a Comment