"To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did." When God takes something from your grasp, He's not punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something better. Concentrate on this sentence... "The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you."

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The photos above are from the 2008 Bejing Paralympic Games. The first photo is of the 213 paralympic atheletes from the USA. I wonder how many people in the United States are aware that we are being so well represented by such a large delegation of dedicated citizens?

The second photo is of a gold medal recipient for boccia and the third photo is an athlete participating in the boccia competition. Do you know what boccia (pronounced "botcha") is? I didn't. It is a precision sport of throwing leather balls that has no counterpart in the Olympic Games. It appears similar to horseshoes except played with balls thrown by the participant toward a target ball that is tossed first. The game is regulated by the Cerebral Palsy International Sport and Recreation Association and has been part of the Paralympics since 1984.

The last photo is of a 55 year old woman who is participating in her last Paralympic Games. She has experienced being a medal winner several times and has written two books about being positive about life regardless of your circumstances. It is interesting that there are not age restrictions like the minimum age of 14 requirement for participation in the Olympics. One of the table tennis atheletes was in her first Paralympic competition at the age of 11.

Looking forward to the wheelchair rugby competition (started in Canada and was called "Murderball" - see 2005 movie about this Paralympic sport - it is amazing). Canada took the gold in Athens and the USA is a top contender for the gold in Bejing. The USA team trains in Birmingham , Alabama and Denver, Colorado. A sidenote about the Canadian team...they have the first female team member. She is a 100# dynamo according to the article on the Paralympic Webcast, entitled, "Girl Power". I think the gold medal game is scheduled for Tuesday, the 16th at 8:30AM. See the Paralympic Webcast Link on the sidebar of this blog.

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PARALYMPIC MEDAL UPDATE:

1 - CHINA 52 GOLD 48 SILVER 34 BRONZE 134 TOTAL

2 - GREAT BRITAIN 38 GOLD 23 SILVER 24 BRONZE 85 TOTAL
3 - USA 26 GOLD 19 SILVER 22 BRONZE 67 TOTAL
4 - AUSTRALIA 16 GOLD 22 SILVER 22 BRONZE 60 TOTAL

5 - UKRAINE 19 GOLD 13 SILVER 21 BRONZE 53 TOTAL