FUSE Foundation Retreat – A Whole Lotta Stories
This past weekend, Joni and I drove up to Wichita, KS, as I had been invited to speak at the FUSE Foundation’s Retreat. The FUSE Foundation was established in 2008 to provide opportunities for social networking, recreation and education for young adults with neuromuscular disease. The “campers” had spent Friday and Saturday having a wonderful time getting to know each other, playing fun games, and I even found out about some midnight karaoke.
I was asked to come in for their final morning together on Sunday and tell them about my story. I realized as I was speaking that many of these young adults had been through more difficult times than I had, and that I could very well learn some lessons from them rather than the other way around. I told my story as I usually do, told them about the love of Jesus that goes so much deeper than the way we look, and then I opened the floor up to questions as I often do. Well, I was not prepared for what came next!
The group there had the funniest questions and stories to tell me that I had ever heard. Whether it be from friends trying to sneak one girl, who is in a wheelchair, past a security camera by simply having her wear a ski mask, (“Yeah, that’ll hide my wheelchair,” she said) or making up why we are handicapped when someone asks us a rude question (One guy there said he had gotten someone else to believe he had fallen off of the Empire State Building), these stories were hilarious. They had me laughing so hard, I almost couldn’t breathe.
I so enjoyed being with the FUSE Foundation group as I learned so much about being happy in the face of struggles. These young adults are the light of the world, and I thank them for their smiles last Sunday morning as I spoke. You all are awesome!!!
7 States, 6 Speaking Engagements, and A Whole Lotta Fun
On June 26th, we set out on another marathon trip to speak six different times in a two week period. The first part of the trip was spent in Tennessee speaking to three different churches and twice on the Lipsomb University Lectureship called, “Summer Celebration.” Summer Celebration was tons of fun as we got to see many familiar faces, and I got to hear some great singing groups. The picture you see is of my daughter, Hannah, helping me great people after one of our presentations. We were having fun making faces at each other, and she is always the star of the show.
After our Tennessee engagements were done, we hit the road for Kansas City were I got to speak at the Teenage Conference hosted by Children’s Mercy Hospital of Kansas City. There, I spoke to many teens (and their families) who all had experienced life-changing medical events within the past year. These teens were by far my favorite crowd to speak to as they were not only attentive, but could very easily identify with the challenges that I’ve faced. In fact, I joked several times about “preaching to the choir” as some of them had dealt with more difficult situations than I have. Their questions were so insightful, and I came away so blessed to have been able to share my story with them.
Next up for us, a quick trip to downtown Fort Worth to speak for the Social Security Administration on overcoming challenges and choosing happiness. Then, it’s on to Wichita, KS to preach at a chapel service at a camp for young adults who have muscular distrophy.
I love my job!
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