Behind every door is a story.
Earlier this year I heard a story that made me realise that there are doors around us everywhere in life, waiting to be opened. The story is about a young South Australian man named Peter Carter. He was a keen tennis player and went to live and coach in Switzerland where one day he met a nine-year old Roger Federer.
As a pre-teen and young teenager, Federer found it difficult to control his emotions. There were tantrums and tears and he often threw and kicked his racket around the court yelling and swearing. But Carter saw Roger’s untapped potential and agreed to coach him.
Roger credits Carter with shaping him into a great tennis player, but much more importantly into a man. He says so much of the comfortable, relaxed style and the precision people speak about today he owes to Carter, and so much more … Carter instilled in him respect, humility and dignity ... the marks of a man.
When Kurt was just 14 years old, the community of Carcoar raised the funds to buy him a racing wheelchair and send him to the USA to compete in wheelchair sport. That spontaneous financial support from a community of only 200 people opened a door for Kurt to achieve more than he had ever thought possible. Today he is one of our greatest sportsmen.
The other two mirrored Jesus to me and taught me more through example than they will ever know.
Perhaps you will open a door for someone to realise their potential as a friend of mine discovered at a recent conference. Several people told him they were where they are today because of opportunities he gave them many years ago.
We never know the impact of our lives on another human being. Sometimes in the living of the everyday as a mum or dad, a teacher, coach, boss, friend, or grandparent, a door is opened, a door to a new way of thinking, a career path or a new direction in life.