For something a little bit different after all the Olympics hype...here's an interview with Stacy James...a chaplain serving in Athens at the Paralympics. Stacy's won 160 gold medals for disabled sport and narrowly missed selection for the US team at these Games.
Interview is courtesy of 2K Plus International Sports Media...Adrian Barnard, Chief Executive Officer and reporter Rich Hallstrom (who himself is disabled and in a wheelchair).
"Stacy James tells her story...I was 19 and a junior in college when I was standing on my friend's shoulders in the shallow end of the pool. I was losing my balance so I dove towards five feet of water but ended up hitting my head on the bottom of three feet and it paralysed me from the neck down. The doctors told my parents I'd never walk again and I just wanted to move
my hands, I couldn't move my hands or my arms. I had a long road ahead of me.
I was just (a student in university) but I knew that my life still had a purpose. I knew that God still had a plan for my life even though my body might be really different and that's the time that my family and friends really came by my side, encouraging me, prayed for me, let me know I was still valuable and important to them. And I knew that I still had a life to live and so I determined to do the best I could in therapy to live my life the best I can and I didn't want my room-mates to take care of me my whole life. So I really did everything I could.
I had to lift weights with my wrists and just lift even one or two pounds on my arms in therapy. And I had also wanted to come on staff with a group called Campus Crusade for Christ, I felt called to full-time Christian ministry, so it was a huge motivating factor to do the best that I could do. And eventually I remember, after a couple of weeks, I was able to move one
of my toes and then after maybe four weeks I was able to move a muscle in my leg and then by the end of four months I was able to barely walk out of there on crutches. And so I was just so thankful for that, all that hard work and stuff, but really the biggest thing was my faith that kept me going, just to have a solid rock when your whole world falls apart.
My relationship with Christ meant everything to me. When it's all you have to hang onto it really means everything and reading my Bible those promises really kept me going, especially the verse "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength". I found out that just because you're in a wheelchair it doesn't mean you still can't be active and so through some friends I found out about quad rugby and I started playing quad rugby which was a really fun sport. It used to be called Murder Ball!
Through that I got involved in wheelchair racing and track and field and even though I only have 25% of my upper body strength I'm still able to go around the track and through my injury was able to win medals and since that first time five years ago I've won 160 gold medals in track and field and swimming, weightlifting, and I also do marathons in my hand cycle. I might
finish a little slower than the winners but I love doing it and I've been able to do thirteen across the United States.
And you know it hasn't been an easy road, that was 13 years ago, but I wouldn't change my life for all the great things I've been able to do, the places I've been able to go, people I've been able to meet, but more important the ways that I've grown as a better person using those characteristics I've just shared with you but also learning to be thankful and growing in my relationship with God number one, knowing that my body is just my shell, and the inside of me is what really matters. So I love my life and I really wouldn't trade it for anything. And especially the chance to be here as a chaplain in Greece. I wasn't able to quite make it as a
competitor but I think this is an even better opportunity, to meet people, to reach out, to share my story and to encourage others and especially in the faith that's helped me so much."
God love ya...and bless you Stacy! Thanks 2K Plus for sharing this story with us.
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