I actually wanted to post an entry on this a couple of days back when I received an email from a sister with regards to the Hoyt family. I first learnt about this touching father-son story months ago when I attended a seminar on adolecence... then I saw the video in 7's blog some time back... One of my email devotionals today happened to speak of the same story again. And so... here goes.

Really hope it blesses you... my friend. :)

The Love of a Father
This devotional was written by Kelly McFadden
HomeWord Devotionals

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. — 1 John 3:1

There is a father-son combination that is like none I have ever heard of. In 1962, Dick and Judy Hoyt gave birth to their son Rick. When Rick was born, the umbilical cord was caught around his neck, cutting off air supply to his brain. The Hoyts were told Rick would be in a vegetative state for the rest of his life. Luckily, the Hoyts disagreed. In 1972, Rick was given a computer that would help him write out his thoughts, and three years later was admitted into public school. A few years later, Rick told his dad that he wanted to participate in a 5k race for a local athlete who was paralyzed in an accident. His father agreed to push his wheelchair in the race. Since then, Rick and Dick – known as Team Hoyt – have competed in over 900 events, including 64 marathons and over 200 triathlons.

So why does this father run, swim and ride with his disabled son through all these events? Because the day they finished their first 5k, his son said through his computer, ``Dad, when we were running, it felt like I wasn't disabled anymore.'' Dick wasn’t a runner, a swimmer or a biker before those words were said. He was simply a father who loved his son unconditionally. He was a father who wanted his son to feel like he could fly. The love of this father is amazing!

We too have a Father who loves us unconditionally and calls us His children. All of us grow up with different situations with our earthly fathers. Some people have fathers who coach Little League. Some have never met their fathers. Some fathers are workaholics, while others are alcoholics. Some people view their fathers as heroes; others view their fathers as villains. But, our Father in heaven is perfect. He loves us unconditionally, cares for us, knows what’s best for us and gives without asking for anything in return. He walks alongside us every step of life’s journey, its joys and its trials, never leaving us alone. Your Father in heaven withholds no good thing from you. And, just like Rick, all you need to do is ask.

[Article From Sports Illustrated, By Rick Reilly]

I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay for their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots.

But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.

Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same day.

Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. on a bike. Makes taking your son bowling once a year look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much - except save his life!

This love story began in Winchester , Mass. , 43 years ago, when Rick was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.

"He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life" Dick says doctors told him and his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. "Put him in an Institution."

But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was
anything to help the boy communicate. "No way," Dick says he was told. "There's nothing going on in his brain."

"Tell him a joke," Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a lot was going on in his brain. Rigged up with a computer that allowed him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? "Go Bruins!" [Boston's icehockey team]. And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the School organized a charity run for
him, Rick pecked out, "Dad, I want To do that."

Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described "porker" who never ran more than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he tried. "Then it was me who was handicapped," Dick says. "I was sore for two weeks."

That day changed Rick's life. "Dad," he typed, "when we were running, it felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!"

And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.

"No way," Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then they found a way to get into the race Officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the Qualifying time for Boston the following year.

Then somebody said, "Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?"

How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick tried.

Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii . It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you think?

Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? "No way," he says.

Dick does it purely for "the awesome feeling" he gets seeing Rick with a cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best time? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992--only 35 minutes off the world record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the time.

"No question about it," Rick types. "My dad is the Father of the Century."

And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries was 95% clogged. "If you hadn't been in such great shape," One doctor told him, "you probably would've died 15 years ago." So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.

Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass. , always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day.

That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.

"The thing I'd most like," Rick types, "is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once."