Stepping Stones and Stumbling Blocks

Last week I had a very special experience. If I ever had any doubt in the law of attraction made famous by the Secret, it was gone after last week. A friend and I went to visit a mutual friend of ours that had recently got married and had moved into a near by apartment complex. Shortly after we arrived we agreed that such a beautiful day shouldn’t be wasted and decided to go down to the complex pool. As I walked in I saw a man relaxing in the pool. As I got closer I realized that this man although normal in every other way, had no arms and no legs. I hate to admit it but I stared a little, not because I saw him as a spectacle but more because I couldn’t believe that I saw him correctly. I also noticed the man seemed content. There was no bitterness, pain, or any look of being worn out by what life had dealt him in his face. In fact he had a subtle smile as he lay in the sun. As I began to apply the necessary sun block, I thought to my self. “I wonder if this is because of an accident, or if he was born this way?” The next thought I had was, “If this guy knew what he was capable of doing and who he was capable of touching with his story, he could do the world an impact full service.”

For the next 15 minutes my friends and I were talking about business things and how much money we had lost or gained in the stock market. Then this man piped up and started talking about Stock trading, before long him and I just got into a detailed conversation about his circumstances. Come to find out this young man was Nick Vujicic. Nick is a native Australian who for no rhyme or reason was born limbless. Now 25 years old has become a motivational speaker and has spoken all around the world to more than 2 million people. He has spoken at the Crystal Cathedral, been on 20/20 and is scheduled to be on Oprah later this year. He told me about his struggles, heart break and many of his triumphs. We spoke about our mutual passion for motivational speaking and our goals to make the world a better place. When I finally left I grabbed his phone number and email, and he said “Give me a hug, I don’t like hand shakes” as you could imagine I was happy to do so and knelt down and gave him a hug. When I got home I looked him up on youtube.com and watched countless videos in various languages. I watched a video in Spanish where he demonstrates himself swimming, putting on a shirt, making and eating an omelet brushing his teeth, walking his dog, answering and talking on his cell phone and typing on his computer more than 40 words a minute. All with out limbs and with out any assistance from any one. It will come to no surprise to you that the book Nick is writing is titled, “No limbs, No Limits”. I can not tell you how grateful I am that Nick and I both visiting from somewhere else per chance met at a random apartment complex pool to discuss our shared craft of speaking and philosophize on the great potential of a human being.

It is humbling to here this man speak of his gratitude for the type of life God had granted him. To be grateful for a life with no arms or legs and to share his thoughts of abundant living with the world is very telling of the type of man he is. It makes me wonder, what is the rest of our excuse? It is hard to her someone’s sob story of why they didn’t have any opportunity to make it in this life when you know there are people like Nick thriving. Talking to him made me realize how wealthy all of us really are. How much we have been given free of charge from our Beautiful God is very apparent if we only choose to look for it. We have all often heard complaints of people being with out money and inconsequence live unfortunate lives. Lives they feel that all problems would be solved with money. To that cadence I would ask, how much then would you sell your arms and legs for? Would a million, billion or trillion make you even think twice? Is there any amount of money that you would take for them? If not then, you must admit you have been given plenty compared to Nick Vujicic. However with what he has been given, look what he has done with it.

The difference between a Stumbling Block and Stepping Stone is the Character of the individual walking the path. To me this is a lesson learned that any of us no matter what lot we have been given in life, can, like the Phoenix rise from out of the ash and accomplish absolutely anything that we choose to. All that is required is that we acknowledge what we have and the source of where it comes. Once we have done that our own limbs become unbound and we become free to do and have anything. True is the title of Nick’s book, but the “No limits” part applies to all of us. It’s obvious that what is important to Nick’s success in life has nothing to do with arms and legs but has everything to do with the mastery of Nick’s mind. And so it is with all of us. Since we can not put a price tag on our arms and legs, let’s take it a step further. What kind of price tag do you think Nick puts on his positive attitude, his vision for a better world, his belief in himself? I did not ask him those questions but I already know his answer and in my opinion he values those things a lot more than most of us value our arms and legs.

So next time you think of yourself in a bad spot with less than just circumstances or feeling like you are in a no light at the end of the tunnel situation. Remember that there is always someone else out there that has done more, with less, then think of Nick.

I do not believe in coincidences. I believe that I met him so that he could improve my life and hopefully in a small way by sharing his story, I could improve yours. I look forward to the day that I will undoubtedly share the stage with Nick Vujicic and we can share the story of our chance encounter and what a great day that will be. For more information about Nick Vujicic, go to his website. http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/ and look him up on http://www.youtube.com/ Also feel free to visit http://www.travisalexander.net/