Author: GMH

Record-Setting 74-year-old Body Builder Inspires Fellow Athletes

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Now if this woman isn’t inspiring, I don’t know what you would define as inspirational. Meet Ernestine Shepherd, now 74 years old and in the best shape of her life! She’s in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the oldest female bodybuilder ever. She didn’t even start working out until she was 56 — she got motivated to get healthier after her sister passed away from brain aneurysm.

Here’s a little window into her workout regimen — remember, this is at the age of 74: She wakes up at 3am every day to begin her fitness routine, but first, she takes time out for devotionals; then she gets her day going with a 10-mile run, after which she does weight training. She can bench press 150 pounds.

“Don’t let life pass you by,” she says. “You can be fit. I feel so much better now in my 70s than I did in my 40s.”

Conformity or Inspiration?

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“We train kids to deal with teachers in a certain way: Find out what they want, and do that, just barely, because there are other things to work on. Figure out how to say back exactly what they want to hear, with the least amount of effort, and you are a ‘good student.'”

– Seth Godin

Read on to see how this interesting perspective plays out in Seth Godin’s blog: Moving Beyond Teachers and Bosses.

What’s your plan for living an inspired life? By giving your teachers and your bosses what you think they want? Or will you break free of that conformist construct and truly strive to live a life inspired on?

Live RPG Removed From Soldier

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UPDATE: The original video we were linking to, illustrated above with a frame-grab from the footage, was on the Military Times multimedia video web page. It has since been pulled down, but we found it here, on YouTube. It’s a bit graphic, there’s some raw language, there is certainly some raw emotion, but it is an absolutely amazing piece of reportage that chronicled a soldier’s journey after being hit by an RPG while riding in a Humvee while on patrol in Afghanistan. It’s 6:46 minutes long, and worth watching every second: Live RPG Removed from soldier.

Army protocol dictates that Specialist Channing Moss, who as the soldier struck by the rocket-propelled grenade, be isolated in an area where he would be forced to either wait to die from his wounds, or be killed by an explosion from the RPG that had impaled him and which was still inside him. Army protocol states that Medivac choppers are never to carry anyone with a live round in him. But the flight crew flew him to the nearest aid station anyway. Army protocol states that a patient like Specialist Moss is to be put in a sandbagged area away from the surgical unit, given a shot of morphine and left to wait until others are treated. The medical team ignored the protocol.

The video includes some actual footage of the surgery where Dr. John Oh, a Korean immigrant who became a naturalized citizen and went to West Point, removed the round with the help of volunteers and a member of the Explosive Ordinance Disposal team. It’s a remarkable story about the people who got involved at great risk to their own safety and lives to help a fellow soldier: Live RPG Removed From Soldier.

The Homeless Man with a Golden Voice

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By now you’ve most likely heard the name Ted Williams in the news. No, not the deceased baseball great, but this Ted Williams: Homeless Man With a Golden Voice.

The story of Ted Williams initially was reported by the Columbus Dispatch. They’ve got an entire page devoted to coverage of him now: The Man With the Golden Pipes.

But which story of inspiration do you take from Ted Williams’ riches-to-rags-to-riches story?

There’s a back-story, as there usually always seems to be in these kinds of stories, to Ted’s recent burst onto the scene after that initial Columbus Dispatch video went viral and was viewed some 13 million times. It’s complicated, that back-story, but the threads all tug at your emotions. Which one is the story of inspiration? The one of Ted, battling with various addictions, living on the streets, being rediscovered? Or the one of his former wife, a woman who raised the couple’s four daughters as a single mom, and who also took in another child that Ted had with another woman? Here’s that story in today’s New York Daily News. In all, Ted has nine children.

Or is it, perhaps, Ted’s 90-year-old mother, who gave up trying to cope with her son and gave him up to God to watch over, praying for him all the while, and all the while trying to convince her son to embrace God. She’s been a member of her church for more than 50 years. She spelled out her story on this morning’s “Good Morning America” show.

Wherever you look throughout the timeline of this story, there are numerous levels of inspiration. Where do you find yours?

The Odds Against Antonio Dixon

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Antonio Dixon
Former Washington Times colleague David Elfin has written a fabulous piece for AOL’s NFL Fanhouse about Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Antonio Dixon. This is a great football story that has as much if not more going for it than that of Baltimore Ravens tackle Michael Oher, as chronicled in the book and movie, “The Blind Side.”

A few excerpts from Elfin’s story about Dixon:
• Dixon’s father was sentenced to 25 years in prison while Dixon was only 3 years old
• Dixon and his four siblings spent years in homeless shelters while growing up
• He estimates he went to some 15 elementary schools and never learned to read

This is an inspirational story about perseverance and overcoming odds no child or teen should ever have to face. Read the full story here: Antonio Dixon Has Beaten Longest Odds.

Elizabeth Edwards’ Legacy

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Elizabeth Edwards inspired others. There’s no question about that. In the wake of her death yesterday after a six-year battle with cancer, after all the stories about the struggles she faced in life have been told and retold, we’re left with the legacy of Elizabeth Edwards. It is one of inspiration, we believe.

In her life, lived very publicly, she had to endure the death of a child — her first-born, Wade, at 16, as a result of an auto accident. That alone is perhaps the most crushing blow anyone must endure in life. But that wasn’t the end of the challenges that came her way. She had to battle breast cancer, a battle she ultimately lost on Dec. 7, 2010. And she had to endure the enormous publicity and public embarrassment surrounding the news of her husband’s infidelity and the fact that he fathered a child with his mistress.

“She was an inspiration to all who knew her, and to those who felt they knew her,” said Vice President Joe Biden. And as the first line in a Palm Beach Post health section story notes that she was “Inspirational to the end.”

Elizabeth Edwards also has been described as steely and strong, ambitious and determined — interesting words; words that could take on a positive or negative connotation depending on the context. She was demeaned in the book, “Game Change,” written about the 2008 presidential campaign, as being less than pleasurable to deal with. But think about all that. Put yourself in her shoes for just a moment if you can. Think about the pain of losing a child; think about having to cope with a deadly disease on a daily basis; think about having the infidelity of your spouse revealed on one of the most public of stages. How would you behave? How would you react? How would you carry all that day after day? Any one of those three things impacting your life would be enough to send many to bed in a dark room where they would remain for months. Think about dealing with all three of those things.

Elizabeth Edwards kept going until she could continue no longer, in spite of all the pain, heartache and suffering she lived through. The line, “Inspirational to the end,” is an appropriate one.

‘Breaking Night’ – The Power of the Serenity Prayer

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Click the above image to go to an amazing video that is on Guidepost’s website about a woman who went from “Homeless to Harvard” and who came to learn the Serenity Prayer at a very young age in a way no teen ever should have to. It’s an amazingly inspiring explanation of the meaning of the prayer and it’s impact and the comfort it gave to a motherless, homeless teen.

Liz Murray’s book, “Breaking Night,” details her incredible young life, a life no child should have to live through, as a child of parents addicted to and dealing drugs, which resulted in her going out on the streets, which she saw as an escape and a step up from where she was. At age 15, she took control of what she could, and let go of trying to control what she couldn’t, and began her journey to Harvard and beyond. As she says in the video, “If I could just pick the things that I had some control over, and give the rest to something higher than myself, let it go, surrender to it, focus on what I could control — and for me that was education. It was school. I couldn’t change any of that, but you know what? I could show up at school everyday. … I could get not only a B, but I could get an A.”

The Serenity Prayer:

“God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
the courage to change the things I can;
and the wisdom to know the difference.”

An Inspiring Struggle for a Coach and a Team

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We’ve been avoiding posting inspirational stories here that have a sports connection. We seem to have a lot of them lately. But you can’t deny some of the incredibly courageous and inspiring events that often, seemingly, take place during athletic competitions. Just this past Saturday, Nov. 27, we saw yet another example during a high school cross-country race held in Fresno, California. Holland Reynolds of San Francisco University High School willed herself to finish a race after collapsing with little more than five yards to go to the finish line.

The video of her, which is now getting aired on TV stations across the country and is being seen on YouTube, shows her struggling to even remain upright not far from the finish line. And this wasn’t any ordinary cross-country race; this was a race that had layers of meaning to it. It was the last cross-country meet of the year for Holland and her school. It was a meet that would determine the state championship. And it was the last race her coach, Jim Tracy, would be coaching. He was recently diagnosed with ALS, or Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis — more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease — and his health and ability to even walk is declining quickly.

Holland hit the wall, as they say in racing. She went down completely, sprawling on the ground, looking. Yet she struggled to her knees as an official rushed over to check on her. The official held back, not giving her any help. If he had even reached out to touch her, she would have been disqualified from the race. He leaned over, speaking with her, and watched her along with everyone else present in the finish area, crawl slowly as runner after runner breezed over the finish line. Holland finally reached the finish line and quickly was scooped up into the arms of race officials, who carried her off to assist her. She finished the race and earned enough points for her team to help them win the championship. And as a result, Coach Tracy earned his 8th division title, setting a state record.

Holland said that when she collapsed, she remembered being confused. But she also told ABC News that she thought about “just finishing. And finishing for Jim. And for my team, ultimately. The entire season, my team and I just really wanted to perform well for Jim, and leave him in his last cross-country season with something to remember.”

That she did. Not only will her coach not forget this finish, but neither will anyone who watches it.

Give Thanks in All Circumstances

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I was following a thread through emails and online today, and ran across this Bible passage that was a good fit for Thanksgiving today. It’s from 1 Thessalonian 5.15-18:

  • “See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Hope your day was fulfilling.