Hey guys! It's Nick here. I wish so much that I could be there tonight.
I wish I could give you all the hug but even if I was there to give you all the hug, my arms
will fall off. Alright. But I'm going to give you a big air hug here. I love you!
mwah! Guys, I am so so disappointed and sad
that I could not be here tonight in person. I just wanted to tell you I love
you and unfortunately we are in a state of mourning over my dad. We have
witnessed him take his last breath and go home and go to heaven and you know
what I love the power of really believing what you believe. And when you
really are a person that you do believe what you believe, things change and how
you think not really though how you feel but what you do with those feelings at
times. And so guys, I just want to tell you I love you so much and I want to
open up just with a couple funny stories. Maybe you've heard a couple of them but
you know the fact that I was born without arms and legs definitely had its
its pros and cons as you can imagine. But I got up to some mischief sometimes and
took advantage of the little body that I had and sometimes pulling pranks
on people like getting my friends to put me in the overhead compartment of planes
that I go to travel on. We actually dress me up as a pilot and greeted the
passengers as they got on the plane. And you know I love teasing kids. Sometimes
you know not teasing them but you know playing around with them a little bit
when they ask me you know what happened and I say cigarettes and stuff.
I even went on the the conveyor belt of a luggage you know being in an airport
terminal. I just I love to have fun. I love to trick people and you know just
just like to see the the glasses half full instead of half empty. But I want to
tell you that it wasn't that easy at all at school especially in elementary
school at primary school down in Melbourne, Australia.
I was actually the first student or one of the first in Australia in 1989 that
was a special needs child that went to a mainstream school and you know kids will
look at me and say what happened and I didn't even know what what happened.
I don't know why I was born this way. My doctors don't know why I was born this
way. My parents don't know why I was born this way. Lady Gaga don't know why I was
born this way. And there are times in life where you feel like you're the only
''weird one", right. You like the quotation marks "weird" and I felt obviously a
little different than everybody else. Everyone had arms and legs but me and my
mom and dad say, "Don't worry. We love you. Don't worry about what anyone else
thinks of you. You're beautiful. God has a plan. You're special." Right?
I didn't want to be special. I wanted to have arms and legs like everyone else.
There are times in life where we look at other people and they seem to be okay
and they seem to have a brave face on or maybe they seem to be having a good day
or even a good life. But deep down we don't know the thoughts and feelings of
everyone around us. We don't know even as we go to school you know what other
people are really maybe even frustrated about or sad about or crying about or
even depressed about. I want you to know that we all go through ups and downs and
maybe people can't see the pain behind your eyes but God can. And I want you to
know that I'm not a person to say, "Well, I have no arms and legs you know. Don't
complain." No, it's not about that. I'm also not the person to say all you know just
be positive and everything's going to be okay.
No. In fact, positivity itself cannot be a coping mechanism. If you say to yourself
"I'm going through a bad day today and I've just got to keep positive. I'm just
going to keep positive.'' If you don't know why to be
positive it's hard to be positive. Today, I have the strength by the grace of God
to even talk to you on this camera. Even though my dad's gone because I know that
there is hope you see we can have strength we can have positivity or not
to say that everything is perfect. But we know we have hope and when you have hope
you live like it, you act like it, and you feel like it. Maybe not all the time we
have the sad moments. We have the loss. We have pain. We all go through tears of
sadness and sorrow and I want you to know that maybe you're going through
something and you're hiding what's behind really what's going on behind
your eyes and trying to put a brave smile on but your parents are arguing or
your parents already divorced or maybe you never even knew your parents. I want
you to know that I truly believe that being in a broken home is worse than
having no arms and legs. You can have arms and legs and you can have stuff and
and things that this wolrd can give you. But man when your dad's sick and you see
him dying, all the money in the world the things of this world that can give you
happiness. It's got nothing to do with nothing. It's got nothing to do with
anything about fulfillment, money, drugs, sex, alcohol, pornography, fame, and fortune.
If you put your happiness in temporary things your happiness will be temporary.
And you know I've met eight-year-olds who are stressed and they're going
through something difficult and thirteen-year-old to a stressed and
they're going through something tragic and 17-year olds who are just so
stressed out they're going to get into university. If I can just get into
university then everything's going to be okay then you against University is
everything okay. No now you need a job and mainly if
I can just get a job then everything's going to be okay. No, you get your job and
after two days you look at your boss in the face and you look at the heavens and
say you gave me him as a boss I hate you and then you're stressed out that it's
not easy then when you single you're like oh man when I get married then
everything's going to be okay no go talk to some married people if
you're not happy single you're not going to be happy married.
can you hear an Amen? those were the married people saying Amen. Guys, I want
you to know for real that in life when you go through something difficult.
I want you to know that there is no hope in comparing your suffering to somebody
else thinking well at least I'm not going through this and this and this.
That's not where hope lies. Hope does not lie and also saying, ''Well, at least I've
got you know this and I don't have that.'' It's still going to have hope not just
being thankful for what you have. It goes beyond that. It's understanding the truth
of three things. It's the truth of your value. It's the truth of your purpose.
It's the truth of your destiny. I want you to know that as I was going to school and
people would tease me "Oh you are little." you know I you know excluded me from
things at school. I realized that you know what when people were not my friend
and they judge me for how I look guess what they missed out on a good
friendship, didn't they? Now, was I the best person? No. Was I always kind? No. But
I quickly realized that it's got nothing to do with the outside appearance and so
many of us we look at each other and compare, ''oh I wish I had a boyfriend to
feel loved'.'' ''Oh I'm never getting you know get this.' So I wish I was smarter. I wish
I was more popular.'' I want you to know some of you guys think that you need to
say the F word to be cool. I don't say the F word and I know I'm still cool.
Some of you guys you know think well it ain't cool to remain a virgin till you
get married. Are you kidding me? It was one of the greatest gifts I gave my
children was to share my virginity with the mother of my own children.
And I want you to know that there were choices in life and it's not about just
being a good person or doing the right thing. It's about understanding
that choices we make should not just be made because someone else is
is believing that way. Don't you dare be a Christian just because someone else is
a Christian. If you're a Christian just because someone else is a Christian
you're not going to be a Christian for long and I want you to know I'm a
Christian and a follower of Jesus. That's what the definition of Christian is.
It's a follower of Jesus because of who He is, what He said, and what He did. What He
said He was going to do and what He did He was going that He told us He was
going to do. He said: 'I am the way the truth and the life.' He said He was God.
He said He was Holy and He raised a couple people from the grave before He rose
Himself from the grave and that's why my dad has hope and when you know you have
hope to understand that the greatest disabilities of all is not that
we're even you know disabled or going through pain in our life. The biggest
disability of all is sin and death and thank God that He loved the world so
much that He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross and when I know that
God loved me even while I was still not thinking of asking for forgiveness of my
sins that even while I was a sinner Jesus died for me. Now I know it's not
about how I look or what I have but what I can do or what job I get or what other
people think of me. Now I know I'm an ambassador. I'm a child of God. I know
that He loves me unconditionally. You, guys, you don't need big biceps. My biceps
are so big they fell off. You understand me? Girls, you don't need a boyfriend to
feel loved. You're beautiful. You're royalty just the
way that you are. You are my sister and I want you to know that when you realize
the truth that you were born to live forever you were born to live in heaven
forever and to know your Creator. You're looking for a sense of purpose and I
want you to know it's not when you finally get a job. It's not when you
finally get married. So when you finally feel like you got
enough money in the bank. It's not when you finally get a car and drive. It's not,
it's not about any of that. It's about knowing the truth and the truth giving
you freedom in your life that even if this was the very last day that you live
you know that you're a citizen of heaven passing through. I want you to know
I nearly died in February last year and I want you to know that death doesn't
scare me. I have the strength and the grace of God to be able to talk about
life and death in front of you because it's what I'm thankful for every single
day -- the life that I've been given. An eternal life when I take my last breath.
You girls, you don't need a boyfriend to feel loved. Sex is not love. You can
sleep with anyone you want as many times you want and still wonder 'Do they love
me'? You don't need to be anybody that you're not. Be the best you that you can
be. That's why God made you to be you and me to be me because we're all different
and He wanted us not just to say you know ''Yes God! We're going to you know
honor Your rules and regulations and we're going to do our best.''
No. It's about choosing to love Him. You see the reason why Jesus Christ died on
the cross. Have you ever thought about why He had to die? Where did death come?
When did death come? you know when you know the story of the Garden of Eden, when
Adam and Eve had no bellybutton they did not have to die. They had no pain, no
sickness, no disease, no tear of sadness until they fell into sin. Some of you
don't believe in Jesus because you feel like God's an unfair God. Well, I tell you
that I believe that God would be unfair if He gave us free will but never gave
us a choice to choose. If the only voice and things that Adam and Eve heard from
was God and the philosophy of life and hearing what God said but then
God says ''I give your free choice.'' But if God was the only
voice they heard what kind of free choice is that? What kind of God would
say, 'I give you free choice'? But all you hear is my voice. You see that's why He
allowed the Serpent's voice to be heard, the counterfeit of what God said and
Adam and Eve heard what God said and then Adam and Eve heard what Satan said.
And then they chose and they chose to disobey God and because they chose to
disobey God it was a sin and because God is God He can't be around sin in that
sense. He had to separate Himself from men. Now He could have closed up the book
and said ''Well, that was a great experiment.'' But He didn't. He knew that
you and me would be alive and all the other billions of people would be alive
and get to hear about the gospel of Jesus Christ and I want you to know that
you need to know that you believe what you believe. Don't tell me you're a
Christian just because you go to church on Sunday and worship God with a song on
Sunday and tease people at school on Monday. You don't know the love of God.
I don't think you understand what you believe and I want you to know that when
you do believe that Jesus did die for our sins you see death was the
punishment for sin that's why Adam and Eve sinned, that's why everyone on earth
who is born dies, and I don't know what happens to the people who never hear
about God. But I do know about this that one day every single human being on
planet Earth will hear about the gospel of Jesus and they will realize that the
greatest disabilities of all is sin and death and there is nothing on this earth
that can ever give you peace until you know that you have the peace of God your
Creator in your soul and in your heart that helps you know that everything is
going to be okay. The peace in your heart and your soul to know that you are His
child and He'll never let you go through more than you can handle and there will
always be questions and I still have questions.
But I acted upon what I did know and I don't want you just to decide today in
your heart, ''Well I'm gonna have a faith in God.'
I'm gonna give it a go just because.'' No. Search for hope. Search for purpose. I did
and I didn't find it until I found Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and He
healed my heart and He renewed my mind. You still go through ups and downs.
You'll still cry but Jesus is Lord and He loves you so much.
Today, when you hear His voice don't harden your heart. Know that you're a citizen of
heaven passing through this planet earth. You were created to live forever.
You don't have to carry your burdens. Jesus will carry you. It's never about having a
life journey from a valley to a mountain. It's about journeying with Jesus by your
side through the valleys and the mountains. Life is hard but there is hope,
there is purpose and when you know the truth of who you are and why you're here
and where you're going that's when you know that God is real that He loves you
and you'll have all the strength you need to keep on going one day at a time.
He loves you just the way you are. I want to tell you one more story maybe one of
you feel that you cannot believe that God could ever forgive you of something
you've done wrong. I just want you to know miracles are real. I have a pair of
shoes in my closet in case God gives me arms and legs and I really believe what
I believe and I saw a paralyzed woman in India in 2008 who hadn't walked for four
and a half years. She walked that night. But where were we?
In the red-light district of Mumbai, India where there were 250 brothel homes
with minors, with kids being forced into prostitution. She was
the one who started that 10-acre red light district in India, Mumbai and God
healed her. Talk about some things she done wrong. Guess what?
God still loved her just the same no matter who you are, no matter what you've
done. God's hand can reach you, touch your heart, heal you and transform you from
the inside out. Jesus loves you and I hope that you find Him tonight. I love you bye bye.