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This Is the Way... One Foot at a Time
by Robin Webber
All of us, at one time or another, have been exhorted to
plow forward through life's oncoming challenges with the simple yet profound
phrase "one foot at a time."
It's a good message, a powerfully true concept,
a worthwhile encouragement! But, what if you don't have one foot to follow
the other? What if one foot is truly missing?
Such was the stark reality facing Tom Whittaker.
His story appeared in the Los Angeles Times on October 8, 2000,
in an article entitled "Aiming High Despite Life's Lows," written by Times staff
writer Susan Vaughn. It is the story of a man who climbed Mt. Everest,
the highest mountain on earth, with just one natural foot. The other foot
was a prosthesis or "artificial foot."
How many nations, cities, communities, schools,
congregations, families or individuals excuse themselves from meeting
the challenges before them, because of perceived or very real disabilities
or liabilities?
Isaiah 2:3 speaks of a time when all nations
and individuals will cry, "let us go up to the mountain of the LORD." Have
you ever considered how many handicaps they will possess at that time?
Their future climb is our present one.
Let's look at the remarkable story of Tom
Whittaker, so we can measure how well we are dealing with difficulties
in our climb through life.
"I had to reinvent myself"
Susan Vaughn begins by sharing the past
exploits of Tom Whittaker before he lost his foot. He had scaled Mt.
McKinley, El Capitan in Yosemite Valley, kayaked the Colorado River
through the Grand Canyon and climbed frozen waterfalls in the Canadian
Rockies. Originally from Britain, he emigrated to the United States
to make adventure sports and education his full-time career. But in
1979, a distracted motorist struck Whittaker's Volkswagen van head
on, crushing both his feet and shattering his right knee.
Related Information on UCG Sites:
Other Articles by Robin Webber
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