This past year I sat...
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This past year I sat in my NFL quarterback chair in our family room watching an NFL game coming from the Meadowlands in New Jersey. I was comfortably watching the game until Dennis Byrd who plays for the Jets took a hit that flattened him. He lay helpless and motionless on the field. Everyone knew that this was just not an ordinary hit but this may was in deep trouble. You could see many of his teammates holding hands, some were wiping away tears and others knelt on the field in prayer. It was announced that Dennis Byrd, after being taken off the field, was suffering from a broken neck and would probably be paralyzed for life. It was a couple weeks after seven hours of spinal surgery to repair his fractured fifth cervical vertebra that he was on the news giving a press conference. He was sitting in a wheelchair with his body still motionless except for his hands and fingers. Even though they were dangling they were moving. He announced to the sports world a message that will long be remembered. He was asked by one of the reporters, "How do you feel since this has happened to you and ended your NFL career?" Dennis Byrd then said these words from his heart, "I am glad that if this had to happen to someone it happened to me. Because, I know that I have the faith that will get me through this." The press conference took place on January 12th. On February 11th, Dennis Byrd walked into another press conference with the assistance of crutches but he walked in to share with the world another message. "I am going home now from the hospital back to Denver. I came to New Jersey a Christian man and now leave to go home even deeper a Christian man. I will be back!" Fortitude does produce character and character does produce hope. -- Smith
