open house volume 3 free chapter: nick vujicic

8/8/2019 Open House Volume 3 Free Chapter: Nick Vujicic

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Open House Volume 3

Copyright 2010 Sheridan Voysey/Hope Media LtdFirst published 2010 by Strand Publishing.

The Open House radio program is a production of Hope Media Ltd:

www.hope1032.com.au

ISBN 978-1-921202-26-1

Distributed in Australia by:KI Entertainment

Unit 31, 317321 Woodpark Rd

Smithfield NSW 2164 Australia

Phone: (02) 9604 3600

Fax: (02) 9604 3699

Email: [email protected]

Web: www.kientertainment.com.au

The words from Jeremiah 29:11 on page 166 are taken from The Holy Bible, New

International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible

Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.

The words of King David on page 109 are taken from Psalm 27:8, The Holy Bible,

New Living Translation. Copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House

Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois, USA 60189. All rights reserved.

The words from the Book of Ecclesiastes on page179 are taken from Ecclesiastes

8:15, The Holy Bible, New International Version.

This book is copyright. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored

in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic,

mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations for

printed reviews, without prior permission of the publisher.

Edited by Owen Salter

Cover design by Joy Lankshear

Typeset by Midland Typesetters, Maryborough, Victoria

Printed by McPhersons Printing Group
http://www.hope1032.com.au/http://www.hope1032.com.au/


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Contents

Introduction vii

Life:

Ray Martin: The untold stories of a household name 3 Alain De Botton: The pleasures and sorrows of work 22

Melinda Tankard Reist: A standard passed by is a

standard set 35

Gary Chapman: The language and actions of love 49

Catherine Hamlin: The fistula patients will break your heart 63

Caroline Jones: Walking grief s journey 75Michael Franzese: Never betray the omert 91

Faith:

Olivera Petrovich: The childs innate sense of God 111

Donald Miller: Your life as a meaningful story 121

Geraldine Doogue: Wrestling with the faith 129

Joel Osteen: Becoming all Gods made you to be 140

Mark Driscoll: The truth can be controversial 150

Nick Vujicic: Waiting for a miracle, being a miracle 161

Sean George: Resurrection in the goldfields 170

Culture:

Bryce Courtenay: A storyteller, not a writer 181Karen Pang: Play Schoolsongs and manic moments 193

Ralph Winter: Film-making beyond the surface 204


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vi

Contents

Marilynne Robinson: The storys over when the characters

walk away 215

Brian Deacon: The face of Jesus 232

Yazz: Plans youve never dreamt of 249

About Sheridan Voysey 2

Join the Conversation


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161

Nick VujicicWAITINGFORAMIRACLE, BEINGAMIRACLE

On the morning of December 4, 1982, a little boy named Nicholaswas born to new parents Borris and Dushka Vujicic. Like other

children, he would later learn to brush his teeth, comb his hair and

dress himself in the morning. Like other boys, he loved swimming,

fi shing and playing soccer. Like other teenagers, he was soon leaving

school and on his way to university.

But throughout Nicks life there has always been one big differencebetween him and those around him. Limbs. Nick was born with

the rare Tetra-amelia disorderhe entered this world with no arms

or legs, just one small foot to live by. That makes those everyday

milestones already mentioned, plus the many achievements youre

about to read, simply extraordinary.

Today Nick Vujicic is not only living a vibrant, independent life

but is bringing hope to millions as he wriggles up to and then speaks

from stages around the world.

Here we are sitting in a Sydney hotel meeting room and youve whizzed

through on your special motorised buggy. How would you describe it to

those who havent seen it?

Its my little BMW 7 Series.[Laughter]

Im going to get a big sub-woofer in it and stuff.


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FAITH

162

[Laughter]

I control it with my little foot. Having no arms and no legs

obviously has its limitations, but Im just so thankful for being able

to have the opportunity to be mobile and independent to quite

a good level. So, yeah mate, its got hydraulics and it goes about

8 kilometres an hour. Im getting a new one, actually, thats going

to raise the seat up to 6-foot-6 if I want to be taller.

Lets go back to that hospital room in Melbourne in 1982 where your

mum is giving birth to her first childyou. Was there any sign that you

would be different than unexpected?

My parents had three ultrasounds done and the doctors and

medical staff didnt check [them]. They were supposed to be

checking the size of the baby and measuring the growth from the

elbow to the fingers and the knee to the toes, those sort of things.

But they never did that with me so there was no warning. The

doctors didnt know and my parents didnt know. And there was

no genealogy of disability either up or down the chain in either

family. I have a brother and a sister, both younger than me, with

arms and legs. It was just one of those things that happened.

When we think of people in your situation we tend to wonder if

thalidomide was involved.

Yeah, well, I was born in the 1980s [after thalidomide had been

withdrawn from sale]. My mum was a nurse and had delivered

many babies before I was born, so she knew quite well what that

was. She actually had a premonition that something would gowrong in her first pregnancy so she didnt even take Panadol when

she had a headache. The doctors still dont know what it is, so they


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Nick Vujicic

163

called it folk-amelia, which basically means being born without

arms and legs for no medical reason.

[Laughter]

I guess it would have been a pretty difficult thing for your parents to get

used to right from the beginning.

Absolutely. It took my mum about four months before she came

to terms with it. My dad took the initiative to hold me first. They

took me home but it was puzzling, shocking, tragic, horrific. It wasbasically a nightmare for my parents. And they were asking why.

Why did this happen? My mum and dad werent just believers in

God; they were lay pastors of a church. My dads been a lay pastor

for twenty-six-odd years and the whole church was asking, Wheres

God in this? Why would God let this happen? Just very trying for

everybody.

Being pastors I guess they prayed for a miracle too.

Absolutely. The whole church did. I grew up learning about Jesus

loving me and how he had a plan, a hope and a future for me. And

Jesus healed many people, so I prayed for a miracle and wondered

why mine never came. The Bible says, Ask and you shall receive;

it tells us that faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains.

Its not about the size of faith but the existence of faith in a God

who can do all things, so my lack of a miracle was puzzling to me.

I actually hated God for many years of my life. You know the

song that goes, Jesus loves the little children/All the children of

the world? I went to school and saw the other kids and I was, like,

God, if you love me like you love all the other kids then why didyou give me less? I prayed for an answer why and he didnt answer

me for many, many years. It was very lonely at times.


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FAITH

164

The worst disability in the world is the fear of loneliness. Fear is

going to paralyse you more than having no arms and no legs. And if

you dont know the answers to any of these three questions: Who am

I? Why am I here? and Where am I going when Im nothere? then

that will cripple you more than having no limbs. I didnt just have no

arms or legs, I didnt know why I was here, why he hadnt given me

arms and legs and why he wasnt answering me. I had pain.

If God wasnt going to stop my pain I decided I was, so I tried

to do that. I was eight years old and I tried to drown myself in abath tub with 10 centimetres of water. I turned over two or three

times and couldnt go through with it because I had an image of my

parents at my grave. I didnt want to leave them with a lifetime of

guilt on their shoulders, wishing they could have done something

more for their son. I loved my parents more than myself at that

stage, and I just tried to get through one day at a time.

When did your parents find out about that suicide attempt?

I dont think they actually knew until I was a teenager. But that

night, after trying to take my life, I told my brother, Aaron, who

was five years old at the time, that I was going to kill myself at

twenty-one. I could see myself going to school, I could see myself

going to high school and maybe even going to university, but I

didnt see a life for me after that. Well, Aaron said, Im gonna tell

dad! So he did, and dad came in and comforted me, put his hands

through my hair, calmed me down and prayed with me, assuring

me that God would never leave me or forsake me, and that while

God sometimes doesnt make sense, hes always with us.

Looking at some of the video footage on your website, you seemed like a

happy kid. You were learning to play the piano with your toe and even


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Nick Vujicic

165

learning to swim. Obviously at some stage things got difficult. Was that

in school?

Having no arms and no legs wasnt such a big deal for me until

I had the unwanted attention of people ridiculing me, rejecting

me and alienating me at school. I couldnt play or do some things

and I looked weird. I was still generally a happy kid during my

childhood. I had my ups and downs and stuff, but I learnt how

to write with my foot, type with my foot; I learnt how to swim,

fish, play golf and play the piano. I loved doing all that. But it wasdefinitely in the schoolyard where I got teased a lot. Id come home

crying, and mum would throw on a song by Joni Eareckson Tada

about how cool it was to be in a wheelchair. That was sometimes

the only encouragement I could receive in those times because no

one with arms and legs, even my parents, could understand my

pain.Tears are a language that only God understands. And there were

times where all I could do was just cry and be held. Those were hard

moments also for my parents because you can only do so much for

your child. But they continued to encourage me throughout my

childhood.

My mum gave me some wisdom. When people see me for the

first time, they dont know exactly how to approach me or what

level of conversation to have with me. So she said, Nick, just start

talking to people and they will see that youre just like anybody

else. I started doing that and thats when I started becoming more

confident in myself, being able to speak out and concentrate on

what I do have instead of what I dont have.

Lets talk about what you can do, because you can do a lot. Explain to

people who havent seen you do it just how you swim and play golf.


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FAITH

166

In golf I hold the putter between my chin and my shoulder. I dont

drive or chip but I do putt. I can go to a golf club and sit there

for two-and-a-half hours just practising my putts. I find that very

relaxing. And the way that I learnt to swim was from my dad. He

put his hand under my head when I was eighteen months old and

taught me how to float in the bath tub. Then I started swimming

at six all by myself. I have a normal lung capacity, which allows me

to be buoyant even if Im still, and then I use my foot basically like

a motorised paddle.There are still many things that I cant do, but I love to challenge

myself. I went surfing last year in Waikiki, Hawaii, and got up on

my long board. I was on the front page ofSurfing Magazinebecause

of it.

But the thing I really want to talk about is that I know who I

am. Im a child of God. Im the richest man on earth because I havepeace, which is something money cannot buy. Im forgiven of my

sins. I know who I am, I know why Im here and I know where Im

going when Im not here.

About three weeks ago I was thinking how it wouldve been the

saddest day in heaven for me if God had given me arms and legs at

the age of eight. I used to beg God for them. Today I do believe in a

God of miracles: Ive seen blind people seeing, deaf people hearing,

lame people walkingwe got it on our cameras as we travelled

across fourteen countries last year. I believe in a God of miracles

and I have a pair of shoes in my closet just in case. But the faith

[I have] is that what God doesnt change he will use. Romans 8:28

says, All things come together for the good of those who love him.

Jeremiah 29:11 says, For I know the plans I have for you, declaresthe Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give

you hope and a future.


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Nick Vujicic

167

When you have suffering in your life, you subconsciously

compare your suffering to somebody elses. But hope is found

when you compare your suffering to the grace of God. God never

makes a mistake. He knew me before the earth beganthats what

Jeremiah 1 says. Psalm 139 says that I am fearfully and wonderfully

made. So I tell teenagers that its not about how they look, its about

Who they belong to. Every girl is beautiful just the way she is; she

doesnt need to be taller, shorter, fatter, thinner, smarter or whatever.

So many girls want boyfriends just to feel loved and wanted, butyou cant find your happiness in relationships either. Theres one

thing worse than being single and alone and thats being married

and alone. Its only by the grace of God that you can look at yourself

and be thankful for what you have.

Ive actually been given the greatest gift of all. You see, if I was

born without arms and legs for just one more soul to come to JesusChrist and for them to be in heaven, what a sad day it would have

been if God had said yes to my prayer at eight years of age. Then, if

I had sat down with God and asked him which wrong choice out of

all the wrong choices I made was the one that stuck out to him, Im

sure he would have said, Nick, I actually created you without arms

and legs to be the miracle I wanted you to be. If you just asked me

for my will instead of your will, I wouldve kept you without arms

and legs, and before you reached age twenty-seven, two hundred

thousand souls wouldve been here.

So far Ive spoken to six hundred million people. Im not joking.

One in ten people in the world knows who I am. Ive travelled

across twenty-four countries and spoken to three million people

face to face. Weve seen two hundred thousand first decisions forChrist, and if its only one soul that comes to heaven then its all

worth it.


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FAITH

168

Two years ago in California I met a little boy named Daniel,

also without arms or legs. I just happened to be [speaking] in the

church where he and his mum worshipped. He had no arms, no

legs and a little foot just like me. Doctors didnt know why he was

born that way. They didnt know what kind of life he was going to

have. Hes not going to walk; hes going to be a vegetable for the

rest of his life; hes going to be a burden to his mum. No. NowIm

his miracle. Im the miracle of God for somebody else.

When God doesnt give you a miracle, you are a miracle of God.I cant guarantee your business is not going to fail. I cant guarantee

your cancer is going to be healed. But Ill tell you one thingGod

is with you and he never makes a mistake. And every day he asks

me, Will you trust me? So the three things I do daily are: I pray,

I thank God and I trust God.

You said earlier that you were angry at God for some years. When did

that faith become a reality for you again?

Thats a great question. Many of us have held something against

God. Perhaps he took our father away or he took our job away or

he let this happen or that. I think I forgave God [for not giving me

arms and legs] when I read a newspaper article about a man with

a disability. I realised then that I had a choice either to be angry at

God for what I didnt have or be thankful for what I did have. That

was at thirteen.

I gave my life to Jesus Christ at fifteen when I read John chapter 9

the story about a man who was born blind and no one knew

why, but Jesus said it happened so that the works of God may be

revealed through him. Those verses changed my life forever. I hadthis faith, this peace, this closure in my mind and it felt like God

was asking me to trust him. Just because the blind man didnt


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Nick Vujicic

169

know why he was born that way didnt mean there was no reason

for it.

That was a huge revelation for me, and that day I prayed, God,

if you give me arms and legs Ill serve you, and if you dont give me

arms and legs Ill still serve you. Because there was a greater need

for me than to have arms and legs. Ive lied once, Ive stolen once,

Ive cheated once, Ive lusted once, Ive hated somebody once, Ive

broken just about every single one of the Ten Commandments. Im

a sinner. But because I believe that Jesus is Lordthe only holyman that pointed to himself and said I am the way, the truth and

the lifeand he died on the cross for my sins and rose from the

dead, and because I confess that Im a sinner and that he is Lord of

my life, Im saved. Thats the deeper need that I had and now its

fulfilled.


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16/17

Every Sunday evening Sheridan Voysey welcomes a variety of authors, artists and

activists to his national radio program Open House. If the Chinese proverb is trueand a single conversation with a wise person is worth a months study of books,

then this collection of the best Open House interviews could be the equivalent of

a Masters course in life, with topics ranging from God, pain, success and poverty

to masculinity, materialism, politics and art.

Laugh, cry and marvel as you read the tales, tragedies and beliefs of some of the

worlds most intriguing personalities.

AVAILABLE

at BOOKSTORESEVERYWHERE

I will have to be honest with

you, Sheridan, and say one

reason [why Im still a

Christian] is that I havent

found a better alternative.

And Ive looked, I really have.

P H I L I P Y A N C E Y

I had all the worldly things,

the trappings of status and

success, but I used to lie

awake at three oclock in the

morning just feeling empty.

MARINA PRIOR

Meaning is everything andhumans will never cease

pursuing the question of

meaning. Nor should they.

Indeed, nor can they.

THOMAS KENEALLY


17/17

In this second book of conversations drawn from Sheridan Voyseys national

Open House radio program, we peer through a window into the lives of national and

international personalities to glimpse aspects of the world left previously unseen.

What does riding a violently-shaking rocket into orbit then landing and walking on

the moon feel like? What is life really like behind the scenes of the adult

entertainment industry? Are there answers to some of the most perplexing questions

levelled at belief in a creator? Where do you turn when you have all that life could

seemingly offer yet still feel profoundly empty?

Come, converse and find out.

AVAILABLE

at BOOKSTORESEVERYWHERE

I think meeting Mother Teresa

had a big impact on methe

way she gave to the poorest

of the poor her whole life without

regard to material possessions

it was incredible what she did.

S T E V E W A U G H

I think beauty is [Gods] way oftelling us on a most basic level

that he is here, that he made this

world and this universe. Why else

would we cry at the sight of a

beautiful tree caught in the wind

with all of its limbs dancing?

ANNE RICE

Im still working on [the faithquestion]. Its something that is

there but I havent got an answer

to it and Im just worrying at it all

the time. DR KARL KRUSZELNICKI
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