Inspiration in Perseverence and Achieving Goals: Major Phil Packer

            A special attraction for me is the racing metaphor. I think the reason here is one sport in which I can participate relatively easily. I am not much for watching sports, but I like to be engaged. I do not think I have ever been in a real race. I like to run the Indianapolis mini-marathon, of course, but I do not compete with anyone except me. I would like to do better than I did the previous year. Some years, I just wanted to complete it, and I always have. One year, it took me the longest time to complete it. I developed a cramp in my leg, but I kept going. When it came to that last mile, I was determined to take it up a notch. It did not work. I walked across the finish line. I am rather stubborn that way.

I want to look into the race metaphor for a few moments.

 

           In February 2008, a rocket blast struck Maj. Phil Packer while serving with the British Armed Forces in Basra, Iraq. He suffered major heart and spinal injuries — enough that medics told the now-paraplegic soldier that he would never walk again. They were wrong — wrong by a whopping 26.2 miles. A year later, Maj. Packer completed the Flora London Marathon — on crutches — only one month after a year’s rehab allowed him to take his first step with them. Starting the marathon with the main race group, he finished it 13 days later. He covered roughly two miles a day, and the whole journey took him 52,400 steps. When doctors tell you that you will never walk again, every step is worth counting. Moreover, when each race day consists of 4,000 painful steps, you probably count each limp and remember every one of them.

            For Packer, limping in was actually all in. If limping or walking is the best you can do, and you complete it, you are “all in.”

            He has identified his mission in life: "To deliver inspiration, create greater inclusion and to influence in the areas of self-harm, depression and mental health at the highest level in order to improve the vital support for young people experiencing trauma in their lives." Have you ever thought your mission in life? You can visit his web site here.

            His extraordinary efforts were more than just an amazing story of human will and overcoming the odds. His marathon was a fundraising movement to donate more than £1million (about $1.5 million) to Help for Heroes — a charity that rebuilds the torn-up lives of people injured in military service. As Packer successfully limped toward his funding goal, scores of tear-drenched supporters joined him each day along the road. Families of lost soldiers. Entire schools of inspired children. Cops. Firefighters. Politicians. Onlookers seemed caught up in the seemingly transcendent journey.

            Before his wheelchair-bound legs would work, he recognized the one-year anniversary of his war injury by rowing across the English Channel.

           

After the marathon, Packer took on Yosemite’s infamous El Capitan — one of America’s hardest mountains to scale. He accomplished a four-day summit almost entirely by upper-body strength developed through his training regimen of 4,000 pull-ups.

            Maimed by a rocket blast. A year later rowing the Channel. Two months later taking his first step. One month later, he limps a marathon. One month later scaling El Capitan. By the way, Phil set out on 14th September 2015 to complete a marathon distance through the City of London in an incredible 14 hours. He has not stopped!

            We could call that 17-month run inhuman. It is actually superhuman.

            Packer’s journey from past to future was a physical striving.

            What inspires me about Packer is that when he could have given up, he refused to do so. He decided to live his life to its fullest. I have had to ask myself if I am living my life to its fullest. Do I have goals that are clearly before me? Am I willing to persevere through the difficult times in order to achieve the goal? Am I willing to view the present struggle as just one part of the race toward the goal? In other words, we are all in process, straining forward toward something new.

            Are we “all in” with God, or are we going to “limp in”?