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24 Life Without Limits

nection and a surge of empathy for him. Old feelings of insecurity,
frustration, and loneliness flooded back, pulling the air out of my
lungs. I felt like I was baking under the stage lights. I felt woozy. It
wasn’t a panic attack exactly; the vision of this boy in front of me
touched the boy inside me.
Then I had a revelation that brought a sense of calm. When I
was growing up, I had no one who shared my situation who could
help guide me, but now Daniel has someone. I can help him. My
parents can help his parents. He doesn’t have to go through what I
went through. Perhaps I can spare him some of the pain that I had
to endure. Here I could clearly see that as difficult as it might be to
live without limbs, my life still had value to be shared. There was
nothing I lacked that would prevent me from making a difference
in the world. My joy would be to encourage and inspire others. Even
if I didn’t change this planet as much as I would like, I’d still know
with certainty that my life was not wasted. I was and am deter-
mined to make a contribution. You should believe in your power to
do the same.
Life without meaning has no hope. Life without hope has no
faith. If you find a way to contribute, you will find your meaning,
and hope and faith will naturally follow and accompany you into
your future.
My visit to the Knott Avenue church was intended to inspire and
encourage others. Though seeing a boy so much like me floating
over the crowd initially threw me off, he was a powerful confir-
mation of the difference I could make in the lives of many people,
especially those facing major challenges, such as Daniel and his
parents.
This encounter was so compelling that I had to share what I was
seeing and feeling with the congregation, so I invited Daniel’s par-
ents to bring him up to the podium.
“There are no coincidences in life,” I said. “Every breath, every

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