Dear Reader:
Have you ever considered the idea that nothing is possible without faith in things we can’t see but feel? If we just picked up the Bible and started reading it from front to back with no faith, whatsoever, we would be constantly shaking our heads repeating, “That’s impossible…no way, that couldn’t have happened, that miracle didn’t take place…impossible, ridiculous!”
But once our faith is anchored in our belief in God, as our Creator, then our perspective completely changes…of course God could do this or that…He is God.
Isn’t that the way we should look at “impossibilities” in our own lives? “Impossibilities” are simply temporary barriers or challenges but they aren’t foregone conclusions…nothing is impossible in God’s universe…nothing.
Again…it is sometimes Father Time that delays immediate possible solutions to impossibilities…but given enough time…the impossible always falls victim to the possible.
Here are some examples from a Huffington Post article titled: “Be Fearless: Make the Impossible Possible.” Jonathan Alpert.
In the early 1950s, many people believed that it was impossible for humans to run a mile in under four minutes. Runners had been trying to break the four-minute barrier since the late 1800s. The world’s top coaches and most gifted athletes had been trying to go sub-4.0 for years. They were dedicated, and they’d tried all sorts of training plans.
Yet, it seemed, the four-minute barrier was beyond reach. People had tried to break it for so long that many were starting to believe it was impossible — that the human body just could not go that fast. Then in 1954 Roger Bannister ran the mile in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds. A month and a half later, John Landy ran even faster. Then a year later three more runners broke the four-minute barrier. Today high school runners break the barrier routinely and Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco holds the record of the world’s fastest mile at 3 minutes and 43.13 seconds.
Once Bannister’s time proved to other runners that it really and truly was possible, they were able to make the impossible possible and run the distance in under four minutes, too.
It all comes back to belief...to faith that our goals or dreams are not impossible, instead they are possibilities waiting to happen. They are waiting on us to make them happen with God’s guidance.
The year was 2005, twelve years ago. Tommy was a senior at Clemson and our family, as an unit, had not made it up for one single football game. This bothered me terribly…I felt like I couldn’t let Tommy graduate without us not being there with him for one game. It turned out to be a Clemson-Florida State shoot-out between the “Bowden Boys”….Tommy and dad, Bobby.
Mandy drove her Jeep Cherokee… since my car was on its last leg (always) Walsh had just come off a 12 hour shift at Nucor and was curled up on the back seat trying to catch some “Z’s” before we arrived for the afternoon game. (At that time I was working weekends, besides teaching, trying to make some extra money so I had to get someone to replace me that Saturday.) We, later, ran into hotel problems and had to stay in a smoking room, but a few obstacles aside, we had done the “impossible“…our family was together on a beautiful Fall Saturday afternoon as we cheered Clemson on to victory against Florida State.
It is a memory that I have never forgotten. When I called Walsh and Mandy and told them what I wanted to do and how important I thought it was for all of us to be there, collectively, to support Tommy during his last year for a family game gathering…they were right on board. We would make it work…that was our belief…and we did.
…(article continued)
Your beliefs are powerful. If you believe something is impossible, that belief will erode your confidence and turn that impossible belief into a self-fulfilling prophecy. If a person with authority — whether it’s a doctor, a therapist or a teacher — tells you that you “can’t” do something, you will believe it, even if that person’s prediction isn’t accurate. And once you believe it, you will behave as if that prediction is true, by default making it come true. For instance, if I told a patient, “You are really screwed up. There’s no hope for you,” it could cause the patient to stop trying, even though there really is hope.
Similarly, positive beliefs are just as powerful. If you believe you can and will do something, you will find the means to make the impossible possible. For proof, look at our history: Imagine how the world would be if U.S. President John F. Kennedy believed that it was impossible to put a man on the moon. What if Martin Luther King Jr. had believed it was impossible to achieve civil rights in the United States or if Gandhi had believed it was impossible to overthrow the British occupation of India without violence. Could Barack Obama have become the first African-American president of the United States if he’d thought the quest was impossible? Highly unlikely.
………………….
Now fast forward twelve years and here is a photo Kaitlyn took of Tommy and Walsh (yesterday morning) leaving for Tampa for the National Championship game.
We have to back up two weeks ago to see how this utterly “impossible” situation came to pass.
Unknown factors were already in progress before any conscious thought of going to a National Championship struck a neuron in either Walsh or Tommy’s mind. Tampa, Florida was selected for the game site….For South Carolinians this made the location financially feasible….a car drive instead of a plane ticket. Big savings there.
Walsh had mentioned to me one day while I was babysitting that if Clemson made it to the National Championship this year (as Best Man in Tommy’s wedding) he wondered what I thought about him doing something (once-in-a-lifetime) special… like getting tickets for the game in lieu of a larger, more “formal” bachelor party.
I told Walsh that going to watch Clemson play in the National Championship was something so far over and removed from anything else he could ever plan… that Tommy would love it and have that memory forever…(if it was even possible to pull off.)
The pieces started falling into place when Clemson beat Ohio State… even though the tickets were going like hotcakes for the final game…out of the blue, a fraternity brother of Tommy’s, got four tickets for himself and his brother-in-law (from an uncle) and asked Tommy if he and Walsh would be interested in purchasing the other two?
Walsh checked his calendar and he would be coming off a 48 hour four-night work shift Sunday morning-just in time to leave to get to Tampa….Tommy got permission to be gone for two days, Monday and Tuesday. It was on….with Tommy driving and Walsh trying to catch some “zzz’s” on the way to Tampa yesterday. It was history repeating itself.
I don’t think the word “impossible” has even entered the psyche of the Clemson coaches or players for the game tonight. Coach Dabo looked at a good Clemson football program when he became head coach and thought….”Why are we just settling for good?” “Why are we keeping our expectations low? Somebody has to win the top national honors…why not us?”
Just like the article said: “If we think positively, set goals and dreams, stay the course, then our dreams become “self-fulfilling prophecies.” The “impossible becomes possible.” Obstacles fall by the wayside and shake out in the end…destiny enters.
So until tomorrow Walsh and Tommy: “Live in this glorious moment… you both deserve it completely. Make the moment a memory to last a lifetime!
‘BE FEARLESS: MAKE THE IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE!’ GO CLEMSON! GO TIGERS!
“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh
ichaseferalcats
John Turner
Legally Ohm
Becky Dingle
Love that the two of them are there. ..what a wonderful bachelor party…one they will never forget…hope you are doing ok….Love you…
On Jan 9, 2017 6:01 AM, “Chapel of Hope Stories” wrote:
Becky Dingle posted: ” Dear Reader: Have you ever considered the idea that nothing is possible without faith in things we can’t see but feel? If we just picked up the Bible and started reading it from front to back with no faith, whatsoever, we would be constantly shakin”
That is for sure!