Posted by Joel Osteen on September 2nd, 2009

Not long ago, I was reading about a young man who was a star running back on his high school football team. He was a great player. He broke many records and was being recruited by all the major colleges. His future looked very bright.

One day, he started complaining about some pain in his right knee. He went to the doctor, and after several weeks of tests, they gave him some very discouraging news. They said he had what was called osteo-sarcoma—one of the worst kinds of cancer, and it was eating into his bones. The surgeon said, “If we don’t remove your leg, it’s going to spread throughout your whole body and kill you.” Of course, this young man was devastated. His dream to play in the NFL was now shattered. He began to sink into a dark hole of depression.

They finally performed the operation and when the surgeons could see inside, they realized it wasn’t what they thought. It was just an unusual bone cyst. They were able to remove it and spare the young man’s leg.

When the young man woke up from the surgery and realized that he still had his leg and heard the good news that he could be strong and even play ball again, he wept like a little baby.

Now, do you know what he does every single morning? He’s a young teenager, and the first thing he does when he wakes up is say, “Thank you, Lord, for my legs. Thank you, Lord, that I can run. Thank you, Lord, that I’m healthy. Thank you, Lord, that I’m strong.” Now, he has a whole new perspective.