Randy Pausch Inspires Graduates
On plane ride from North Carolina to Kentucky on Saturday I read Randy Pausch's best selling book, The Last Lecture. The book was a delightful mixture of practical wisdom, inspiring stories, and the pure love of a husband and father for his wife and kids.
At times it made me laugh; at other times I cried. I was afraid the flight attendants were going to tie me to my seat for my own safety and the safety of others. :)
Safe to say, I highly recommend the book.
This morning I stumbled across a short speech Randy Pausch delivered to graduates of Carnegie Mellon on May 18.
In it he says something that resonated with me. In my first book, Running On Empty: Life Lessons to Refuel Your Faith I proposed (based on John 10:10) that Jesus didn't come into this world so that our lives would be busy, but full--and in my book I detail what it means to have a truly "full" life. In this speech Randy talks about "beating the Reaper." (btw--Randy is a believer.)
In response to someone who commented that Randy was really "beating the Reaper" Randy said, "We don't beat the Reaper by living longer. We beat the Reaper by living well and living fully."
Now, that will preach.
Here's the rest of his speech:
posted by Arron Chambers @ 8:16 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
I love this man too. I almost cried for a man that I have never met when I heard that he died. But I was sad that he never shared the gospel. I didn't even know he was a believer. Did you find that somewhere or in something he said? I'd love to have the reference or site to where you found that he was a believer. Thanks for posting what you did.
I too would love to know your reference that he was a believer. That would be awesome.
I found out he was a believer when I read his book, The Last Lecture, last week. On page 186,187 he writes, "Many, many people have written to me about matters of faith. I've so appreciated their comments and their prayers. I was raised by parents who believed that faith was something very personal. I didn't discuss my specific religion in my lecture because I wanted to talk about universal principles that apply to all faiths--to share things I had learned through my relationships with people. Some of those relationships, of course, I have found at church. . . . since my diagnosis, my minister has been very helpful."
The book mentions that his parents were Presbyterians (I think--couldn't find the reference.) Truth be told, the previous quote only verifies that he went to church. The rest of the chapter from which I quoted suggests that he had a very close relationship with his minister.
In his long career Randy may have mentioned in an article or lecture that he doesn't believe in God, but--based on this quote--I'd be very surprised.
I take this quote to be proof that he was a believer.
I was researching his faith as well a few nights after he died and couldn't find anything. I saw positive and negative on the side of evidence.
But tonight I found an online article that says he grew up Presbyterian but became a Unitarian Universalist. Check out this link:
http://www.uua.org/news/newssubmissions/117142.shtml
Thanks Kelly.
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