Running with Team Hoyt

Nov 7, 2008 by Robert A Henru

Who is Team Hoyt? It’s a team of a father (Dick Hoyt) and a son (Rick Hoyt). And here is some introduction of them, taken from Wikipedia.

Team Hoyt is a father (Dick Hoyt) and son (Rick Hoyt, b. 1962) in Massachusetts who compete together in marathons, triathlons, and other athletic endeavors. Rick has cerebral palsy, caused by loss of oxygen to his brain at birth because his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck. Dick pulls him in a special boat as they swim, carries him in a special seat up front as they bike, and pushes him in a special wheelchair as they run.
~Team Hoyt @ Wikipedia

If the story is not touching enough, you may want to watch the video below.

What is your first impression you have after watching the video? Are you inspired by their courage, persistence, belief, or love?

It was envy for me.

The boy, Rick Hoyt, says “I can” but in fact, he “can’t”. What he was doing is only sitting on a special boat, special seat and special wheelchair. The one that is working very hard is his father. And what gave him the capability to do it is not he himself, but his father.

Yes, they have completed the Ironman Triathlon, a race that involved 2.4 mile (3.86 km) ocean swim, 112 mile (180 km) bike ride, and 26.2 mile (42.2 km) marathon. Yet, it was not Rick who did it. It was Dick, his father. How dare he says, “I can”???

The changed perspective

I was watching that video as a part of The Courage to Create program that I shared earlier. My questions rose up as what I see in my life is the other way round. My dad suffered from stroke, he is away and literally “unavailable” to me. I don’t have the same “fortune” as his. And comes to it, how this video is supposed to motivate us? I did not see that, until there is one question from a coach that caught my attention.

“Can we see them in each of us? There is a part of us that runs as a Dick, and another that runs as a Rick.”

That question changed my perspective about the whole story. This journey is teamwork. You can apply it in a team, couple, family, or organization. But more importantly, you will see how this will work in each of us, each individual of us. And especially in this post, I will talk very much about how Dick and Rick represent our journey and our relationship with God.

The “Dick” in us

Will you embrace your “Rick”?

Imagine that you are in the Iron-man competition together with Dick Hoyt. Don’t you feel fortunate that you are not him? Ironman challenge is not an easy thing to do on your own, even more if you have a burden with you. What if you’ve got to bring a handicapped son running with you?

Yet, there is a much similar situation in our life…

Everyone is disabled in a way, only that the physically disabled is more visible.
~Narrator of the TV program “I Journalist”

Unfortunately, each of us has something to deal with. We are all Dick Hoyt in one way or another. We’ve got some “handicaps” to deal with. The “Dick” in us should always appreciate what we can do, whether it’s “run, swim, or bike”. And the “Dick” in us should not focus on what we are not having, such as the “healthy son”.

The question is not whether you have limitation or not, but will you run your race despite your limitation? Will you turn that limitation into advantages instead?

The race in us

What is your motivation in your success journey?

And this is really what is amazing about Dick Hoyt. The race he runs is not for him. He runs the race for his son.

He wanted to help Rick live his life as if it’s a normal life, and one way that he can afford is to run with him. The race isn’t about anything else but love. He loves his son very much and it’s the one that motivates him to keep running.

LOVE, can we see that what we pursue actually not for us, but for others? I believe that it will change your perspective on the journey you take. It will energize you, but more importantly, it will give you the essence on the journey you take. When it’s all about you, success journey will be an empty journey.

One example is what I learn from the book The Pursuit of Holiness. Holiness is an important example of a journey we have to take. But it is important to see the journey with the right perspective, not self-centered but God-centered. As the author put it…

We are more concerned about our own “victory” over sin than we are about the fact that our sins grieve the heart of God.
~Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness

And here is what God wants instead…

God wants us to walk in obedience-not victory. Obedience is oriented toward God; victory is oriented toward self.
~Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness

The “Rick” in us

When was the last time you felt helpless?

I was just wondering, what will we do if we are trapped in a body like Rick Hoyt? Are we going to feel helpless? Will we give up on life and not doing anything?

The “Rick” in us represents our humanity and limitations. We may not have body like “Rick” but I guess there is something within us with the same feeling, the sense of helplessness that we have to overcome.

But are we going to get our identity from it? Os Guiness has an interesting answer in his book, The Call.

So when it comes to identity; modern people have things completely back to front: Professing to be unsure of God, they pretend to be sure of themselves. Followers of Christ put things the other way around: Unsure of ourselves, we are sure of God.
~The Call (Os Guinness)

Joyce Meyer called us the prisoners of hope. And what that is actually rather than how we should not let go our hope. In the midst of helplessness, hold on to the hope, as if you were imprisoned by it. It’s just like what Paul said on his letter to the Philippians (Phil 4:13). We can do anything, but there is important point… through Christ who strengthens me.

Rick, despite of all his circumstances, has given us one solid example. That we can always say we can, we can always stick to the hope, and we can always believe in something beyond us.

Running like a team

If there is any take home point you can bring from this article, is really about running like a team.

If “Rick” has to represent our weaker self, have we let our “Dick” to take place? We’ll always have inside of us doubt and fear, but are we willing to do the actions?

As in the race, Dick does not let Rick stay at home while he was running. It is the same with courage! Courage is not the absence of fear, but the willingness to act in spite of fear.

Run your race, and more importantly, find some meaning and purpose beyond yourselves. Run for your team! It’s true that walking with others is always slower, but the rewards are greater. Run as if it’s not only for the worldly manner, but eternally.

And remember this, that God is in the same team as you, if you allow Him to.

Running the race,
Robert

Related links:

• Team Hoyt Official Website