Tim Hansel was considered a lucky, nay, a blessed man to have survived his fall off a glacier. It's just that it resulted in fractured vertebrae, crushed discs, bone fragments in his neck, and a life of constant pain.
The real miracle is that it also resulted in a life of constant demand as a speaker, writer, and leader of adventure trips (Click here to read more about Tim Hansel).
Hansel's book that specifically deals with his climbing accident and its aftermath has a title that would seem flippant if you didn't know how he had earned the right to say it: You Gotta Keep Dancin' - In the Midst of Life's Hurts, You Can Choose Joy!
Some highlights:
All of our lives are terminal. Only time and quality differ. The choice for all of us is not if we will accept pain, but how.
You don't truly discover your roots until you are at the bottom of the pit.
If you can't change circumstances, change the way you respond to them.
Learning patience...takes a lot of patience.
Pain is inevitable, but misery is optional.... God has given us such immense freedom that he will allow us to be as miserable as we want to be.
The damage has been done. The worst is over. You will have to live with pain, but that's a small price to pay for life.
I know full well that I would rather make my days count than merely count my days.
Most of the Epistles were written in prisons.
The Scriptures say that the righteous shall flourish like the palm tree - but we need to remember that palm trees don't grow in beautiful forests, but in the desert.
* * * * * * *
Truth is...this isn't as simple as saying "Chin up, buckaroo!" One last quote (and how Hansel ends the book): In his marvelous and mysterious way, God keeps shaping us until he can see himself in our lives. The process is long, arduous, complex, and certainly not painless, but it's worth it. And we need not wait until the conclusion to celebrate. We can, if we choose, genuinely celebrate the process.
There is no box
made by God
nor us
but that the sides can be flattened out
and the top blown off
to make a dance floor
on which to celebrate life.
-Kenneth Caraway
Previously in Truth Is..., I shared some stellar words from Tim Hansel's book, Holy Sweat. Now, the revelation that this book is not only full of good thoughts and catchy phrases from his own pen...Mr. H also does an excellent job of passing down quotable quotes from others.
- Those who believe in God can never, in a way, be sure of Him again. Once they have seen Him in a stable, they can never be sure where He will appear or to what lengths He will go, to what ludicrous depths of self-humiliation He will descend in His wild pursuit of man. If holiness and the awful power and majesty of God were present in this least auspicious of all events, this birth of a peasant's child, then there is no place or time so lowly or earthbound but that holiness can be present there too. And this means that we are never safe, that there is no place that we can hide from God, no place where we are safe from His power to break in two and recreate the human heart because it is just where He seems most helpless that He is most strong, and just where we least expect Him that He comes most fully. (Frederick Buechner)
- Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there. (Will Rogers)
- He who has learned to laugh at himself shall never cease to be entertained. (John Powell)
- God doesn't ask us to give till it hurts - he simply asks us to give it all. (Bill Milliken)
Truth is...with so much good stuff out there, I sometimes wonder why I write anything of my own at all.
I do not regret for a single moment the years I spent as a youth minister. They were the most fulfilling years of my life, filled with a sense of being used for a greater purpose than earning a paycheck.
It was also a time of being exposed to some great people. For instance, when I heard Tim Hansel speak at a National Youth Leaders Conference, I was introduced to a great guy, who has written a few wonderful books, one of which is Holy Sweat. Tim's explanation of the title: "HOLY reminds us of our highest calling. SWEAT is what it takes to get there."
Here's a little taste of the gems included in this tome...
- I believe it is more important to live one word of Scripture than it is to memorize volumes. (From the chapter, "Turning Our Theology into Biology")
- We are, in a sense, walking Gospels as we re-present Christ to the world through our "fifth Gospel."
- The Bible does not give us much reason to believe that being saved is in any way to be equated with being safe. For instance, we often hear that Daniel's faith got him out of the lion's den, but we forget that it also got him into the lion's den.... God doesn't promise a carefree life; he promises peace and joy in the midst of the trouble (John 16:33).
- The greatest act of courage is the first step.
- It is easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than it is to think your way into a new way of acting.
- Stop worrying and start believing. You can't worry and praise God at the same time.
- I'd rather make my days count than simply count my days.
- We don't get a free detour around problems when we become a Christian; we get a guided tour through them.
- Which would you rather have - a Christian reputation or Jesus Christ?
- I believe the world gets to know what Jesus looks like by looking at us, God's people. So I say, let's give them a good look. Let's live a life so powerful, so unsettling, so wonderful, so joyous, so giving, that our lives wouldn't make a bit of sense if God didn't exist.
Truth is...sometimes cleaning off your shelf can be a glorious thing.
Next week: Hansel lays down some great quotes from others.
