What do I want for my son?
Do you want him to be a banker?
Do you want him to be a big CEO?
I said, no.
They said, no?
I said no, I want him to be happy.
I want my boy to know that I love him every single day.
Backstage, I met an armless child.
I think he had six years of age.
I can’t even imagine…first of all, the persecution, or the negative comments that
were made to them, where disabilities are really shunned upon, and families automatically
feel ashamed of their children.
Here in Japan, to have a young, strong, husband and wife, father and mother who stand by their
child—if they weren’t Christians, I just saw the grace of God upon their life.
You know, it’s not about your religion necessarily.
Love from parents to a child is love.
It’s a love that cannot be replaced, yet it can be compromised when you have so much
oppression.
And I thanked God, so much for this child and so much for their parents.
I looked them in the eyes, and I told him to never give up, and they looked right back
in my eyes and said we’ll never give up on our child.
One of the most difficult things in Asia is that people are trying to find…is acceptance.
And it starts from infancy.
It’s the expectancy of performance.
Japan has the highest rate of suicide in the world.
The teenagers, the middle aged men, the older men—it just, it’s so sad.
It’s definitely no easier for people with disabilities there.
A lot of people who have a family member with a disability finds a lot of encouragement
in our story and in our ministry, and we took an opportunity to go to a local hospital where
they do sort of like a day program, so that the parents can go and work and not have to
be a full-time caregiver.
There were about, maybe, I would say 60 people there, from young to older, different disabilities
from cerebral palsy to autism to paralyzation …it was just wonderful to be able to go
there and encourage them, let them know the truth that God loves them, and talk about
acceptance, you know, that we’re all accepted to God.
But don’t worry about what other people think of you.
You’re all beautiful.
Can you smile?
Yes?
Yeah?
Can you still love people?
Yes, yes.
So I want you to know to never give up and take one day at a time.
Thank you so much for having me here.
I love you.
Ariatou gozaimashita.
It’s the same sort of feeling that I actually got when I went to Serbia for the first time,
cause I understand the language, and I feel like, you know, it’s one of my home countries.
Now with my wife, you know, this feels like home.
It’s like our own kids, you know, I want to help them out.
I’m glad we’re here; thank you so much for having us.
In my young years of traveling, I think I’ve counted about roughly 1,000 flights that I’ve
been on.
You become accustomed to the risks that are involved, or the extra stress and pressure
of traveling, that not everyone has to experience, and I’m used to getting delays, or, you
know, lost baggage at times…I’m used to that.
>>Do you need the ticket right now?
We don’t have the ticket printed.
You don’t just want the ticket number, you want the actual printed ticket?
>>Ah, no, if you just show me the number or ticket image, it’s OK.
So, we had a bit of a situation.
I love Nate Nomix, my caregiver’s seasoned sort of attitude when unexpected things come
up, and that’s always good to have on a trip like this, and so because it was a bit
of a complicated thing where not all of our tickets were booked at the same time, therefore
not under the same group of information, and so it was, uh, took a little bit of digging.
Yes?
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, we just got the nod.
Arigatou gozaimashita.
Thank you, thank you.
Phew.
Can we go now?
Oh, wow, VIP seats.
Here?
Thank you.
Oh, that’s nice.
We get a nice up…I think we just got upgraded.
I love hugging people and meeting people and saying hi and thank you for, you know, your
help in getting us here, but when I hug Judah…you know, sometimes you can look into someone’s
eyes and see what kind of life maybe possibly they had before, or I don’t know how but
sometimes God puts in my heart what kind of background they came from.
>>Actually, I just finished your book last night.
Really touching, man.
Thank you.
Which one?
Life Without Limits?
>>No no, Unstoppable Good.
>>They just gave it to me about five days ago, so I did my research on you.
You finished it in five days?
>>Five days, man.
Even with all my work I’m doing right now.
But, it’s about the bullying.
It’s funny, cause it really dug in deep in me, man, because I was bullied.
But the thing was, the way that I turned it around was becoming a bully myself.
I got into gangs, I got into drugs, the whole thing, man.
Wow.
>>It was only here that I found, you know, that God saved me.
Wow.
But there are some times when I meet someone and you just have no idea, you know, what
kind of background they came from.
>>I come from a family that was broken because of infidelity, and that was what triggered
me to just let everything go, and rebel.
I live here in the Philippines now, I was born here, but I also moved to America in
1986, you know.
I got into drugs at a very early age.
I started selling drugs, failing everything at school.
You know, I left school in 9th grade, which was 9th grade for the second time, and I found
refuge in a boxing gym.
Behind every Christian there is a testimony of how God got a hold of their heart and their
attention, and their lives.
>>I focused more on my study of boxing, as in the skill, the history, even the nutrition
behind it, the science of training, was like, 100%, that was it.
Win the first gold medal of all time, because, you know, we’ve never won a gold medal,
but at the very last moment, to get into Thailand, which would take me to Kazakhstan which would
take me then to London Olympics, first punch into that sparring, I dislocated my shoulder.
The last time, and that was it.
At that very moment, I knew that God had closed that chapter.
When I was reading Nick’s book, about how sometimes a passion has to die so God’s
bigger and greater passion can be placed in your heart, it really hit home, and I was
like wow.
Because all that time, I thought I had to fight my way to the top, and then I realized,
the fight’s already been won.
All I have to do now is share His story.
Share His victory, and that’s it.
It’s just the amazing story of God’s love meeting us all where we’re at, and loving
us all, no matter what we’ve done or no matter how far we’ve run away from the Lord.
One of the most difficult things of course I was facing while we were traveling is being
away from my wife and my newborn son.
I really felt that Nate would be able to quite easily distract me—it’s good to have lighthearted
conversations and laughs and jokes.
A little bit of poking and teasing here and there as well.
It keeps it fun and alive.
With my camera…is that my camera?
Where’s his camera, alright, great.
Hello, and welcome to Life Without Limbs, today I am your host Nick Vujicic, friends
I am so honored to interview such a wonderful manly God…godly man.
Take two!
He is caregiver of the year of 2011, the trophy got lost in the mail…Nathan, welcome to
the show.
>>Glad to be here!
Thanks for having me.
So tell us, how weird is it working with Life Without Limbs ministry and traveling around
the world.
>>Um, I will say he doesn’t really pay that well, unless you play him at poker—then
he pays really well.
Can you say something that we could actually use?
So, what do you think of the Philippines.
>>The Philippines are great.
We were talking about it last night, and we think they rival Brazil in the areas of mango,
how their mangos taste.
It’s great to be engaged with a young crew, you know, it’s fun, it’s like the boys,
you know, we’re going out and we’re seeing God move in incredible ways, and tasting new
food, and meeting new people, and seeing new things.
Tanner!
Quick, we’ve got to go.
I’ve been to 47 countries, but mainly, I’ve only seen the scenery of maybe 20.
>>Australia’s kinda stuck in the ‘80s.
You go there, and they actually still think like Bon Jovi’s a viable band.
Like, if you ask them, Bon Jovi’s the only American rock and roll alive, as far as they
know.
If Nate says hey, let’s go swimming, and I’m just sitting there watching TV or lying
in bed, sort of half-asleep, half-not, you know, like, it’s very easy to become more
sad when you know that your wife and your boy, they’re sleeping in the night and it’s
your day, and you can’t talk to them, you can’t, you know, like, man, what am I going
to do, you know.
I don’t have thumbs to twiddle with, I don’t really want to do anything else.
And he says no, let’s go swimming, and I’ll go nah, man, let’s not.
And he’ll go no, let’s go swimming.
And I’ll say yes to it, and, you know, it turns out that it’s good exercise for me,
it gets us talking again, and it brings up my spirits.
>>It is going to be an incredible day.
>>If you think about, a small guy with a big story, talk about being faithful over a little,
right?
>>And we have now for you a testimony, an incredible testimony of unstoppable faith
and also healing through God’s grace.
Filipino people, wherever I’ve met them in the world…I’ve seen nothing but just
kind people, fun-loving people who love to laugh, and we had that auditorium that night
at 12,000 people, it was one of the most electric audiences I’ve ever had in my life.
In that auditorium of 12,000, everyone was just paying attention, they loved it.
There was a roar that I’ll never forget, and I could just sense in that auditorium
that there were thousands of people who were sitting there, who were Amening all the way,
and praying for a change in that nation.
And just a revival—you know, every nation needs a revival—every nation needs a touch
of God.
I was just very encouraged by the people there and their spirit and their passion.
Thank you, we are praying for your country, and I’m going to come back to Manila.
God bless you all, thank you.
>>We love you!