Sitting on my desk in the office is a mini calendar with a daily quote from some famous man of character.  This week one of the quotes was from Dennis Byrd from his book “Rise and Walk”.  If you do not remember who Dennis Byrd is he was a professional football player for the New York Jets.  In 1992 during a game, Byrd collided with another player and broke his neck, leaving him paralyzed and unable to walk.  Byrd however was a devote Christian and used this event to share his testimony and message of hope that he would walk again.  Several quotes in my desk calendar reflect that he was able to talk to more people and share God with them more through this accident then he ever would have playing football.  And so he saw the hope through the grey skies of his circumstances and was able to use this negative as a positive.  He also never gave up hope and through intensive surgery and months of therapy, less then a year later he returned to the Meadowlands for the Jets’ home opener — walking to midfield as an honorary captain for the coin toss.