When I was twenty, I decided to go to South Africa on a two-week speaking tour arranged by someone I'd never met. My mum and dad were not enthused because they were concerned about my safety and health, and about the costs involved. Can you imagine that? John Pingo had seen one of my first videos and made it his mission to lure me to speak to the neediest people in the poorest regions of his country. On his own he set up a series of appearances for me at congregations, schools, and orphanages through his network of Doxa Deo churches.
John wrote, called, and e-mailed, begging me to come to his country. His persistence and enthusiasm triggered something in me. When I was growing up and sometimes tortured over my circumstances and my future, the one action other than prayer that seemed to bring me relief was to reach out and do something for another person. The more I dwelled on my own challenges, the worse I felt, but when I changed my focus to serving the needs of someone else, it lifted my spirits and helped me understand that no one suffers alone.
Whether you have a lot or a little to offer, just remember that small acts of kindness can be just as powerful as big donations. If you make a difference in just one life, you've done a great service, because simple kindness can start a chain reaction of similar actions, resulting in your effort's initial results becoming magnified many times. How many times have you had someone do something nice for you and then, feeling grateful, you turn around and do a kindness for someone else? I believe it is part of our God-given nature to respond in this manner.
Earlier I told you how a simple kind comment from a girl in my school infused me with confidence at a critical point in my life when I had been feeling useless and unwanted. She gave me a boost that made me think maybe I did have something to offer, and now I seek to provide inspiration to those in need worldwide while spreading the word of God's love. That girl's simple kindness to me has been magnified many, many times over.
So if you say that you would do more if you had more, I encourage you to simply do what you can now and every day. Money isn't the only contribution you can make. Whatever God has given you, share it in ways to benefit others. If you have carpentry or other trade skills, offer them to your church, to Habitat for Humanity, or to the victims of disasters in Haiti and other needy places. Whether it's sewing or singing, accounting or auto repair, there are plenty of ways you can multiply your talents.
A high school student from Hong Kong recently e-mailed my Web site, demonstrating how we can all make a difference no matter how old, how rich, or how poor.
I live a very fortunate life, but even still there were times when I nonetheless felt useless and frightened. I was scared entering my high school years because of stories I'd heard about how the older students might treat you. Then on my first day of school, I joined the other students in my Humanities in Action classroom and I had a great teacher who taught us to no longer see ourselves as a class but a family.
Over time we learned so many things. We were introduced to important events in other parts of the world, such as the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and the current Genocide in Darfur, Sudan. My class and I came to feel something that we had never felt before: Passion. We had a passion to understand and help what was happening to the people in Darfur. Even though people wouldn't expect much from 14-year-old kids, we found a way of showing the world how we could make a difference.
We put on a performance in which we showed the audience what was happening in Darfur. We found a passion that ignited our souls and spirit.
Because of this we were able to do the unexpected and raised enough money to send essential supplies to help people in Darfur.
Those are wise words from a young person, aren't they? The passion to serve others may be the greatest gift God can bestow. I'm sure the people in Darfur who benefited from the supplies were grateful for every single item, big or small. The awesome power of God is reflected in the fact that if we want to do something for others, our availability is every bit as important as our capability. God works through us when we reach out for others. Once you make yourself available for good works, guess whose capabilities you can rely on? God's! The Bible says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
Whatever you want for yourself, do it for others. If you make even small acts of compassion a daily habit, you will feel empowered and liberated from your own hurts and disappointments. You shouldn't expect to benefit from being generous or supportive to others, but good deeds can lead to surprising rewards.
I'm an advocate of unconditional generosity because it honors God and multiplies His blessings. Yet I also believe that when you do unto others, blessings come to you as well. So if you don't have a friend, be a friend. If you are having a bad day, make someone else's day. If your feelings are hurt, heal those of another.
You never know how much of a difference you can make in this world simply by performing a small act of kindness. Small ripples can set huge waves in motion. The classmate who saw that I was feeling down after being teased and told me that I was looking good not only soothed my hurt feelings, she lit a spark that ignited my career and my mission to reach out to others worldwide.
A PASSION FOR REACHING OUT
Don't worry about how much you can do to benefit others. Just reach out and know that small acts of kindness multiply and are strengthened beyond anything you might imagine. Like the student from Hong Kong, I became more and more passionate about traveling to South Africa the more I thought about it and the more I heard from John Pingo.
I prayed about the proposed trip for three weeks. After that, I really felt that I had a calling to go. I wanted to offer inspiration without limits, and this seemed like a good first step toward a worldwide ministry. I knew very little about South Africa, and I had never traveled that far without my parents. My dad did have friends who lived there, and after he spoke with them, he wasn't reassured. They reported that violent crime was a serious problem and that travelers were often attacked, robbed, and even killed.
"It's not a safe place to go, Nick," my father said. "You don't even know this John Pingo. Why would you trust him to take you all over that country?"
My mum and dad have very few gray hairs, which is surprising given some of my adventures as a strong-willed young man. But like all parents, they are very protective of me. Given my disabilities, they felt they had all the more reason to be concerned about my safety. But I yearned to make my way, to follow my calling and get on with my career as an evangelist and inspirational speaker.
When I raised the prospect of the South Africa trip, their initial concern was for my welfare and financial stability. I'd just bought my first house with my earnings, and they felt I should be paying off my debts instead of gallivanting around the globe.
Their concerns increased dramatically when I also revealed to them that (1) while I was in South Africa, I intended to give away more than $20,000 of my life savings to orphanages, and (2) I wanted to take my little brother with me.
Looking back from my parents' perspective today, I can better appreciate how worrying it must have been for them. But I was determined. The Bible says, "If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?" I wanted to act on my faith by serving others. Though I am disabled, I felt enabled by my faith, and I felt that it was time to serve my purpose.
I still had to convince my parents that I would be safe. Even my brother was not all that enthused about going with me at first. In fact, when I asked him, initially he refused because of the reports of violence and "I don't want to be eaten by a lion." I kept pushing and prodding him, tried to explain the situation about lions. I'd recruited two cousins to go; one had to drop out. Aaron then felt it was his duty to go and help me make the trip. My parents and I prayed about this journey, and eventually they gave their blessing to go forward with it. They were still concerned, but they trusted God would look after us.
SERVING THE WORLD
When we arrived in South Africa after a long flight, our host was waiting for us at the airport as promised, but for some reason I'd pictured John Pingo to be an older man, maybe not as old as my parents but at least in his thirties.
He was nineteen years old! That was a year younger than I was at the time.
Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, I thought when we met at the airport. Fortunately, John proved to be a very mature and capable bloke, who opened my eyes to more poverty and need than I'd ever witnessed. He told me how he had been inspired by my life story when he saw my video, but I came to realize that his story was every bit as compelling, and his dedication to his faith humbled me.
He grew up on a livestock farm in the Republic of the Orange Free State in southern South Africa. He'd run with a bad crowd earlier in life, but he'd become an avid Christian and was now the owner of a small trucking company. He was grateful to God for helping him change his life and for blessing him.
John was so determined to have me speak words of faith and inspiration around his country that he'd sold his own car to raise enough money for our tour of churches, schools, orphanages, and prisons. Then he'd borrowed his aunt's blue van to haul me to speaking engagements in Cape Town, Pretoria, Johannesburg, and all points in between.
It was a crazy schedule, and we often went with just four or five hours of sleep each day. But this trip introduced me to people, places, and things that changed my life forever. It helped me realize what I wanted to do with the rest of my life: to share my message of encouragement and faith around the globe.
Aaron and I thought we'd seen a bit growing up in Australia and living for a short time in California. But on this trip we realized we were babes in these woods. That realization really sank in when we left the airport and were driving through Johannesburg. Aaron looked out his window at an intersection and saw a sign that terrified him: "Smash and Grab Area."
Aaron looked at our driver. "John, what does that sign mean?"
"Oh, that means this is an area where they will smash your car windows, grab your things out of the car, and run off," said John.
We locked the doors and began scanning all around us. We noted that many people lived in homes surrounded by high concrete walls with barbed-wire fencing at the top. Several people we met in the first couple days told of being mugged or robbed, but eventually we found that South Africa was no more dangerous than many other regions where poverty and crime are concerns.
In fact, Aaron and I both fell in love with South Africa and its people. Despite all this nation's problems, we found South Africans to be wonderful, filled with hope and joy despite their circum-stances. We'd never seen such depths of poverty and despair, nor such inexplicable joy and unyielding faith, as we found there.
The orphanages were both heart-wrenching and inspiring. We visited one orphanage dedicated to rescuing abandoned children who had been left in trash cans and on park benches. Most of them were sick and suffering from malnutrition. They affected us so much that we returned the next day with pizza, soft drinks, toys, soccer balls, and other simple gifts. The children were ecstatic about them.
But we also saw children with open wounds from fl esh-eating bacteria, children and adults dying of AIDS, and families living day to day in search of food and clean water to drink. To see that up close, to smell the sickness and death hovering over human beings in agony, and to know that all I could do was pray over them to comfort them, was such an eye-opening experience. I had never seen such poverty and suffering. It was so much worse than anything I've ever endured, and it made my life seem pampered by comparison. I was overwhelmed with conflicting feelings: compassion that made me want to leap into action and save everyone I could, and anger at the existence of such suffering and its seeming unchangeability.
Our father often spoke of his childhood in Serbia, having only a piece of bread and a little water and sugar for dinner at night. His father, my grandfather, had been a barber by trade. He had worked in a government salon, but when he refused to join the Communist Party, he was forced out. It was difficult for him to operate his own shop because of constant pressure from the Communists. The family had to move once or twice a year so that my grandfather, whose faith prohibited him from bearing arms, could avoid being drafted into the military. When he contracted tuberculosis and could no longer work at his trade, my grandmother had to support their six children with work as a seamstress.
My father's stories of his family's struggles carried new meaning for me after I witnessed poverty and hunger up close in South Africa; now I'd seen anguish in the eyes of dying mothers and heard their children screaming because of their aching, empty stomachs. We visited slums where families lived in tiny tin sheds no bigger than storage rooms, with newspapers for insulation and no running water. I spoke at a prison where the inmates filled the chapel and a courtyard outside it. We learned that many of the prisoners were still awaiting trial and that the only crime of many was to owe money to someone with the power to have them arrested. We met one prisoner who'd been sentenced to serve ten years because he owed $200. That day the prisoners sang for us, and their voices soared with amazing joy in such a desolate place.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
I'd gone to South Africa as a young man full of himself, sure that I could make a difference in this vast land. But it was South Africa that made a difference in me.
When you step outside of yourself and your own concerns to reach out for others, it will change you. You will be humbled. You will be inspired. More than anything and more than ever, you will be overwhelmed with the feeling that you are part of something much bigger than yourself. Not only that, you will also realize that you can make a contribution. Everything you do to make someone else's life better makes your life more meaningful.
After our first few days in South Africa, I came to understand why John Pingo was so dedicated and driven to help me deliver my message of hope and faith around his country. He had seen more than I'd ever seen. I'd led a very self-centered and selfi sh existence, I realized; the demanding boy with no arms or legs could not conceive that anyone suffered as much as he.
Since that trip I've never felt the same in a grocery store. The abundance of food even in my neighborhood grocery is beyond the imagination of the orphans and slum dwellers I met in South Africa. Even today I reflect on that trip when I'm feeling pampered in an air-conditioned office, or when I'm given a cool drink; such simple comforts are rarities in that part of the world.
Aaron, who is now a high school math and science teacher in Australia, still talks about what a reality check that trip was. We were saddened at some sights, but amazed by so much else. We agree that it was the best trip of our lives. We both came home wondering, What can we do to ease the suffering of others? What is the best way to contribute? How could I ever live the same way, knowing that people are suffering so much?
You don't have to travel far to find someone in need of help. In fact, our trip to South Africa made us more aware of the needy people in our own community and our own country. You can easily find places to give of your time, your talents, or your money at your local churches, nursing homes, the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, homeless shelters, food banks, and soup kitchens. Whatever you can share will make a difference; whether it is money, your time, your resources, or your network of friends and co-workers.
That first trip to South Africa made me so excited about kicking off my mission that I gave away a good portion of my savings, $20,000; while we were there we raised another $20,000 and gave that away too! We spent entire days buying presents for orphans, feeding them, and stocking up on books and blankets and beds. We gave the orphanages television sets and DVD players, donating funds through a half-dozen charitable networks.
Twenty thousand dollars is still a considerable amount of money in my book, but looking back, I wish I'd had more to give. Just being able to affect a few lives in a few places gave me a greater sense of fulfillment than I'd ever known. My mum wasn't too happy when I returned from South Africa with "nothing" in my savings account, but she saw that my life was enriched beyond measure on that journey.
MIRACLES IN THE MAKING
One of the most emotionally raw and unforgettable scenes from our South Africa trip came when I spoke at a certain church. Hundreds of sick, disabled, and dying people had lined up to seek a healing miracle there. Normally I make a few joking references to my lack of limbs, just to put people at ease. In this church, no one laughed! They were not there for humor. They were there for healing. They wanted miracles.
Every single night they came to this church in neck braces, on crutches, and in wheelchairs with hope for a healing. Two people with AIDS had been dragged on mattresses to the church. Others had walked four and five hours to get there. The back of the church was lined with crutches and wheelchairs that were said to have been left by those who'd been healed. My brother and I talked to a man whose leg and foot were swollen to nearly twice their normal size. He was in agony, but he'd walked to this church to be healed.
Everyone wishes for the power to heal those in pain. I've certainly done my share of praying for a miracle to give me arms and legs. But my request has never been granted, and most of the people we met at that South African church did not get their miracles either. But that does not mean miracles cannot occur. My life may well qualify as a miracle someday, given that I've been able to reach so many perse audiences, speaking words of faith and inspiration. The fact that this Australian Christian of Serbian descent with no limbs has received invitations to speak from government leaders in Costa Rica, Colombia, Egypt, and China is no small miracle. I've met with Pope Shenouda III of the Coptic Church and with the grand imam Sheikh Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, not to mention with leaders of the Church of Latter-Day Saints. My life is testimony to the fact that there are no limits other than those we impose upon ourselves!
Living without limits means knowing that you always have something to give, something that might ease the burden of others. Even small kindnesses and a few dollars can have a powerful impact. After the terrible earthquake in Haiti in 2010, the American Red Cross quickly set up a program for people to help right away. They made it possible to donate ten dollars by taking a cell phone and texting "HAITI" to the number 90999.
Now, ten dollars doesn't seem like much, and texting it didn't take much effort. It was a small act of charity. But if you were one of those who participated, you made a huge difference. The last time I checked, according to the Red Cross, more than three million people made ten-dollar donations to Haiti on their cell phones. As a result, the Red Cross had received more than $32 million to finance its efforts to help the people of Haiti!
DO WHAT YOU LOVE TO BENEFIT OTHERS
Today my Life Without Limbs nonprofit organization helps support more than ten different charities, including the Apostolic Christian Church Foundation, which sends missionaries around the world; it operates orphanages and churches, including Bombay Teen Challenge in India, which I wrote about earlier in the book. We also partner with Joni and Friends to give away refurbished wheelchairs to people in need.
You can take whatever you love to do, and do it for the benefi t of others. Do you play tennis? Ride a bike? Love to dance? Turn your favorite activity into philanthropy: a tennis tournament to benefit your local YMCA, a bike ride for the Boys and Girls Club, or a dance marathon to buy clothing for needy kids.
Hilary Lister loves sailing. At thirty-seven, she decided to try to sail solo around the island of Great Britain. She planned the fortyday sailing trip as a benefit for her charity, Hilary's Dream Trust, which helps disabled and disadvantaged adults learn to sail. She believes sailing can boost the spirits and confidence of people with disabilities.
Hilary's belief in the healing power of sailing is based on personal experience. She has not had the use of her arms or legs since the age of fifteen because of a progressive neurological disorder. A quadriplegic with a degree from Oxford, she sails her custom-outfitted boat using a "sip and puff" system with three straws to operate the controls. One straw controls the tiller, while the others help her steer. She is the first quadriplegic sailor to solo-sail across the English Channel and around Britain.
ONE PERSON AT A TIME
Two years after our amazing experience in South Africa, I got an invitation to speak in Indonesia. The invitation came by e-mail from a gentleman in Perth whose nickname was Han-Han. He was of Chinese descent and pastor of a group of Indonesian churches in Australia.
Upon receiving his e-mail, I called Han-Han, and we spent hours on the phone discussing his proposal. He said my ministry was well known in Indonesia because of my DVDs and videos on the Internet. He offered to set up a speaking tour that would include appearances before tens of thousands of people each weekend. My parents and I prayed over his proposal, and they agreed that I should go, giving their blessings.
I never grow tired of seeing new parts of the world and meeting perse people, experiencing their cultures and foods. Han-Han had put together a very demanding speaking schedule for me, and I began to have concerns about the rigorous timetable, especially when I discovered that the caregiver they'd provided for me didn't speak English. The language barrier became a huge problem when I developed a digestive virus. My caregiver's inability to understand me and my lack of fingers to gesture and give hand signs led to some very frustrating situations.
My hosts staged a very thoughtful party to celebrate my twenty-third birthday, but my stomach and I were not exactly in the mood for the festivities. I was in so much pain at one point that I prayed for God's help. As I did so, I envisioned Jesus on the cross, and my pain subsided. I then thanked God and enjoyed the rest of my party. The next day I received medical attention, and my condition improved dramatically before I returned to Australia.
A few years later Han-Han invited me to return to Indonesia for another speaking tour. This time I provided my own caregiver and stuck to bottled water with no ice. A businessman in Indonesia, whom we knew as Pa Chokro, arranged for me to speak to nearly forty thousand people at stadium appearances in five cities. The events were also broadcast on television.
One Sunday morning, after I had done three speaking engagements at a church, we took a break since I had three events that evening. I was hungry and tired but decided to address the hunger first. We found a Chinese restaurant near my last speaking venue. A group of local leaders and sponsors of our tour accompanied us. We walked in, with my caregiver Vaughan carrying me.
The restaurant was not fancy, little more than a concrete floor with wooden tables and chairs. Just as we were seated, a young woman came up to the door and leaned against its frame. She was weeping and speaking in Indonesian directly to me. I felt a wave of compassion for her. I had no idea what she was saying, but I could see that she was gesturing at me and in need of a hug.
The businessmen and community leaders with me seemed to be touched by her words. They explained that this woman, Esther, had grown up in a tin-roofed shanty made of cardboard. She lived with her mother and two siblings at the edge of a garbage dump, where they foraged for food each day and collected bits of plastic to sell to the recycling factory. She had a strong faith in God, but when her father left the family, Esther despaired and considered suicide. She believed that her life wasn't worth living.
Upset over the departure of her father, she considered taking her life. She prayed, telling God that she could no longer go to church. That same day her pastor showed the congregation one of my DVDs. It was a black-marketed copy, one of 150,000 made illegally and sold in Indonesia.
When I'd first learned from Han-Han that so many of my DVDs had been pirated and sold, I responded, "Don't worry about it, praise God." I cared more about people hearing my message than about making profits. Even on the black market, God was at work, as Esther would confirm.
Through an interpreter, Esther told me that my DVD had inspired her to reject despair. She came to find a purpose and to have hope. She felt that "if Nick can trust in God, then I can too." She prayed for a job and fasted for six months. She'd found the job in that same Chinese restaurant, which brought us together!
After hearing this story, I gave Esther a hug and asked her what her plans were. She had decided that even though she had little money and worked fourteen hours a day, she would prepare herself to be a children's minister. She hoped to attend a Bible college, even though she wasn't sure how that could happen given her situation. She was living in the restaurant, sleeping on the floor because she couldn't afford a place to live.
I nearly fell off my chair at that revelation. I hadn't felt really comfortable about eating in the place. I couldn't imagine this poor woman sleeping there. I encouraged her to find a different place to live and to pursue her dream to be a children's minister.
One of the members of our group was a pastor. After Esther returned to her work, he told me that the local Bible college was very expensive, and it had a twelve-month waiting list just to take the entrance exam, which very few applicants passed.
A steaming plate full of food was placed in front of me, but I'd lost my appetite. I kept thinking of this poor woman sleeping on the floor. As the rest of the group prayed in thanks for the meal, I prayed for Esther. My prayers were answered almost immediately. The pastor seated next to me said that his church could provide Esther with living accommodations if I contributed the security deposit. I asked if Esther could afford to pay her rent, and the pastor assured me that she could handle it. So I agreed. I was very excited to tell Esther, but before she returned to our table, one of the businessmen said that he would make the down payment himself.
I told him I wanted to do my part, but I appreciated his offer.
Just then another of our party spoke up. "I am the president of the Bible College," he said. "I will allow Esther to take the entrance exam this week, and if she passes, I will see that she gets a scholarship."
God's plan unfolded before my eyes. Esther scored 100 percent on the entrance exam. She graduated from the Bible college in November 2008. She is now the youth director for a children's ministry in one of Indonesia's largest churches, and she has plans to create an orphanage in her community.
Throughout this book I've been telling you about the power of purpose. Esther's story is a testament to that power. This woman had nothing but a sense of purpose and faith in God. Her purpose and her faith created a powerful magnetic field that attracted me and an entire team of people willing to buy into her dream.
THE POWER OF PURPOSE AND FAITH
I am humbled by Esther, her powerful sense of purpose, her undying hope for a better life, her faith in God, her self-love, her positive attitude, her fearlessness and resilience, her willingness to take risks, and her ability to reach out to others.
Esther's story amazes and inspires me. I hope you feel the same way. My purpose in writing this book has been to light the fl ames of faith and hope inside you so that you too can live a life without limits. Your circumstances may be difficult. You may have challenges with your health, your finances, or your relationships. But with a sense of purpose, faith in your future, and determination to never give up, you can overcome any obstacle.
Esther did it. You can too. When I was growing up, my lack of limbs often seemed like an insurmountable burden, but my "disability" has proven to be a blessing in many, many ways because I learned to follow God's path.
You may face many trials too, but you should know that wherever you feel weakness, God is strong. He took me from disabled to enabled and instilled in me a passion for sharing my stories and my faith to help others cope with their own challenges.
I realized that my purpose was to turn my struggles into lessons that glorify God and inspire others. He blessed me as a blessing to others. Distribute your own blessings with enthusiasm, and know that whatever you do will be multiplied many times. In all things God works for the best for those who love Him. He loves you, and I love you too.
Christians often are told that we are "the hands and feet of Christ" on earth. If I took that literally, I might feel a bit left out. Instead, I take it spiritually. I serve Him by touching as many lives as I can through my testimony and my example. My goal is to reflect the love of Christ for us all. He has given us life so that we might share our gifts with each other. This fills me with joy, and it should fill you with joy too. I hope that the stories and messages in this book have helped and inspired you to find your purpose, to be hopeful, to have faith, to love yourself, to have a positive attitude, and to be fearless, unstoppable, accepting of change, trustworthy, open to opportunities, willing to take risks, and be charitable to others.
Please stay in touch with me and share your stories and thoughts on the book by visiting me online at NickVujicic.com, also known as LifeWithoutLimbs.org and AttitudeIsAltitude.com.
Remember this: God has a truly great purpose for your life! Live it without limits!
With love and faith,
Nick