The Man Who Became His Son's Legs

In 1977, Rick Hoyt told his father Dick that he wanted to participate in a five-mile charity run. Rick had been born with cerebral palsy and could not walk or speak. Most fathers might have gently said no. Dick Hoyt said yes — and pushed his son's wheelchair the entire distance.

That first race became a calling. Over the next four decades, Dick Hoyt pushed, pulled, and carried his son through more than one thousand endurance events — thirty-two Boston Marathons, six Ironman triathlons, and races across every terrain imaginable. In the Ironman, Dick towed Rick in a boat during the swim, cycled with him in a seat on the front of the bike, and pushed his wheelchair through the marathon. Dick was not a natural athlete. He started this at age thirty-six with no training background. He simply loved his son and refused to let him sit on the sidelines of life.

When asked why he did it, Dick's answer was always the same: "When I'm running, my son tells me he doesn't feel disabled anymore."

The Apostle Paul wrote that love "bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things" (1 Corinthians 13:7). Dick Hoyt bore the literal weight of his son's body across thousands of miles because love does not calculate the cost. It simply moves.

What weight is the Lord asking you to carry for someone today — not because it is easy, but because that is what love does?