What is in your heart?

Cause of death, an enlarged heart. This was the findings that forensic pathologist, Dr. David A. Start had released to the family of high school athletic star, Wes Leonard, after finishing Leonard's autopsy. In my opinion, this seems like quite an unfair cause of death for a kid of only 16 years of age. Leonard was considered as not just another normal kid in his sphere of influence, but rather a star. Most would state this claim for his relentless determination in athletic competitions, but I believe it was more than that. Yes, not only was he a star on the basketball team, but also the quarterback of the school's football team. And on both teams, Leonard made it his personal goal to run an undefeated 20-0 season, and that he did. Leonard's football coach, Tim Schipper stated from his relationship with the athlete that, “He had a personality that, when people were around him, they played better. Everybody around him played better, because he was a leader and the best athlete.” 

Here, Coach Schipper pegs it right on my message. You see, Leonard and his family had no idea of his enlarged heart condition his whole life until this one tragic day. Leonard did not play the way he did because of the size of his heart, but instead because of it's content.  When his friends were around him they didn't play better because they knew he had a heart condition, they played better because they felt what was in his heart. They felt his perseverance, the strength he exuded, and how he conveyed community and love to his fellow teammates. His teammates would even go as far to call him family. Leonard was a leader among his peers because he believed in his self. 

While, I was reading this article it reminded me of a very similar story, though a different species.Secretariat, the American Thoroughbred racehorse, is known throughout history and to this day as the first horse to win the U.S. Triple Crown in 1973. Though interestingly enough, upon his passing, the veterinarian who performed the necropsy of this great horse, Dr. Thomas Swerczek, head pathologist at the University of Kentucky, revealed a similar finding. He worded his experience this way, "We just stood there in stunned silence. We couldn’t believe it. The heart was perfect. There were no problems with it. It was just this huge engine." Weighing more than double the size of a normal horse's heart (6.4 kg, Secretariat's weighed in at an astonishing 14 lbs. 
Now, this certainly is a scientific wonder, yet just like Leonard, none of the horse's caretakers knew of this condition. Instead, Secretariat had faith placed in him. Starting out as a horse that was looked past by renown names in the racing industry, Secretariat's owner, Penny Chenery(Tweedy) saw something more. She saw great potential and believed in her horse. Not only did he defy the odds, but this great beast of muscle defied the records with his still standing today.
In closing, the message I am sharing is the power in Belief. More often than not, we don't believe in ourselves. Yet, we are all made uniquely and so it is important to surround ourselves with peers that not only see that uniqueness, but believe in it and call it out! What if we looked past all of our perceived "conditions" that limit us to the depth of our hearts? What would we see? Because, I believe that even if we have been blinded, scaled eyes can open. Surely, if we seek, we will find. And what we find will be what has always been since the beginning, the unique mark of our Maker.

Small but Mighty

I have found this article to be a refreshing gem in the clutter of media that I come across through the day.
Not only is it snow that can wash the land, but the pure heart of a courageous 4-year-old girl. This story of this precious girl named Averie Carrion touches me, because it is not only something that I would find difficult personally as a 21-year-old woman, but also the will and intelligence she had at this age to fathom such a great feat. Furthermore, I am not an individual who usually enjoys paying attention to the news. This is most often due to the fact that majority of the time it is tragic and disheartening. Still, this story caught my attention and the very woman in this story who got to hold the young hero in her arms captured my feelings on it in a very pure way.
Jean Zenk declared this statement saying, "We always hear about the bad things in the world, so it's nice to hear something with a happy ending. She had a guardian angel over her that night." 
And this I do believe, that no matter whether we pay attention to the news or not, God still has His hand in every circumstance. So often I feel that news is overflowing with heart break because we as people of His creation do not see the potential within ourselves. If we are made in the image of God, then we are missing out on some extraordinary truth to believe that we are anything less than that- extraordinary. 
Yet, here a small girl who has yet to reach a full hand in age reached in deep and pulled out that something extraordinary. I cannot say what that factor may have been seeing as I cannot imagine what was going on within her when she took this leap.  Perhaps she manifested supernatural strength, and that she did. However, I believe that beyond this simple characteristic that can fade in given circumstances, she believed this identity. That not only was she protected by guardian angels on a special assignment by the Lord, but within her very own DNA she believed that she was extraordinary, and moreover, made in the image of God. 
Furthermore, what if we all did see this very truth too? What if we believed that the actual power of the resurrected Christ resided in us? What fear could come against us then, if we knew Perfect Love and that it knew us? It is then, that I believe news would change forever. We truly would share the good news. Beyond the Gospel of Jesus, we would exhibit the Life of Jesus that overcame the odds of the world. Surely, this is the good news.