Robert Petterson writes: Reality was something his parents didn’t want to face. When their baby boy was born with severe birth defects, they focused on worst-case scenarios. They knew that their son was born without eyes. They were told that he would be consigned to a wheelchair for life. Their emotions went from denial to resignation to rage. They constantly asked God, “Why? Why this? Why us? Why him?”
Answers didn’t come, but amazing things did. Six-week-old Pat was screaming when his desperate daddy placed him atop the piano and began to play classical music. The baby stopped crying. One evening when his daddy played three notes on the keyboard, the nine- month-old reached out and played those notes back in rapid succession. When he was a toddler, he would listen to nursery rhyme songs and then plunk them out on the piano. When this blind kid in a wheelchair went to high school, he was a fixture in the band and orchestra, inspiring his classmates that if he could unlock the gift of potential, so could they.
But the most amazing thing was yet to come. When Pat enrolled at the University of Louisville he figured he could play the trumpet in the pep band at his beloved Cardinals’ basketball games. But he discovered that there was a requirement that he also had to participate in the marching band at football games. But how does a blind guy who can’t walk do that? The challenging solution was Pat’s dad taking time off work every afternoon to attend the marching band practices. He learned the routines while his son mastered the music. You should have seen that dynamic duo work together during halftime shows! Patrick Henry Hughes played while his father, Patrick John, marched behind, wheeling him along.
This amazing story teaches us that nothing is impossible. The family received national attention when TV’s “Extreme Makeover” built them a home that minimized Patrick’s disabilities and they later competed on Steve Harvey’s “Family Feud”. Years ago, Sherri had them come to the Ben Logan Schools and EMCC was privileged to bring them to our community. But this father and son’s testimony involved more than just their own dogged determination. They give all the credit to their Lord and Savior, Jesus, Who empowers them to unlock the gift of potential. They powerfully display Paul’s proclamation that “”I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). Despite the physical hardships they’ve had to endure, they can witness to the truth that the Lord “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us…” (Ephesians 3:20).
So, what about for you? Perhaps you also face some challenging obstacles. Maybe you seem to have insurmountable limitations. But there may also be some untapped potential that God is calling you to explore, perhaps more potential than you had ever considered. I love the possibilities suggested in I Corinthians 2:9: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” In His Service, Jim
Scripture Spotlight “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” I Corinthians 2:9