A Thousand Races of Love

For over forty years, Dick Hoyt pushed his son Rick across finish lines. Rick was born in 1962 with cerebral palsy, unable to walk or speak without assistive technology. But in 1977, Rick typed out a request on his computer: he wanted to run a charity race for a classmate who had been paralyzed. Dick, who was no runner, agreed. They finished second to last. That night, Rick typed the words that changed everything: "Dad, when I'm running, I feel like I'm not handicapped."

That was all Dick needed to hear. Over the next four decades, Team Hoyt completed more than a thousand endurance events — seventy-two marathons and six Ironman triathlons among them. Dick swam pulling a boat with Rick aboard. He cycled with Rick on the front of his bike. He ran pushing Rick's wheelchair — mile after mile, year after year.

When a reporter asked Rick what he most wished he could give his father, he typed: "The thing I'd most like is for my dad to sit in the chair and I would push him for once."

That is the heartbeat of love — not a feeling, but a relentless decision to carry someone else's weight. The Apostle Paul wrote, "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things" (1 Corinthians 13:7). Dick Hoyt bore all things across a thousand finish lines. And the God who made us bears us still — not because we are light, but because His love is that strong.