Canoeing with One Arm

Transcript

At a summer camp for kids, a boy with one arm struggled to paddle his canoe until, frustrated, he pitched the paddle into the lake.


"I hate canoeing!" Mike shouted and steeled himself for a scolding.

"Okay," his counselor said. "But are you sure that's what's wrong?"

Mike looked away. The counselor waited. After a long pause the boy said: "I've only got one arm, and I can't do it."

The counselor would not cripple the boy further. He said: "If you want to do it, you'll find a way."

This is Howard Butt, Jr., of Laity Lodge. Mike eventually mastered canoeing—and bicycling—and diving—and anything else that interested him. And he reminds us that in most cases we set our own limits—in the high calling of our daily work.

Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.

When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven."

(Luke 5:18-20)