One day, I was sitting in a local coffee shop, and staring at this man in a wheelchair. He could move his head and parts of his fingers but nothing else. He had a servant who cut up his food and placed it on a special mechanically powered fork that he would use to eat.
He saw me staring at him and invited me to join him at his table. His name was Stephen. For several hours we sat at that table and we got to know each other on a deeply personal level. I had never known a man who was more radiant(容光焕发), more energizing to talk and get to know than Stephen.
Stephen used to be a very successful businessman in Denver. He was in the natural gas business. Thirteen years before, when he was forty, he was waiting for news of a natural gas discovery to occur any moment.
He said, ”I had so much nervous energy. I saw the storm clouds gathering, and I decided to clean out the gutters(檐沟）rather than sitting around waiting for this gas well to come in.”
He climbed up the ladder to clear the piles of pine needles on the roof. As he backed up, he accidentally fell off the roof. He landed on his back. He was paralyzed(瘫痪）for the rest of his life, except for his head and his hand.
I asked him, “How do you do it all? How do you suddenly stop hiking, fishing, and running marathons?”
He said, “There are three things you have to do when something like this happens. The first thing you have to do is adjust. The second thing you do is adjust. And the third thing you do is adjust.”
He said, “By adjusting to your abilities, Bill, you have to change your self-expectations. If you can't be a physical athlete any longer, then perhaps you can be a spiritual athlete.” He was.
