WORLD RECORD TRAVEL STORIES #4 - 2004 Olympics Games (Greece)

dear friends welcome to my fourth episode of my world travel stories and today i'm going to focus on how i made it to the olympic games in greece in 2004 to perform on the cultural stages as a kid i loved sports especially track and field events and i love to run and i used to build my stamina waking up early in the morning and running and i used to think that you need to be darker you need to be black in order to be a sports star so i used to put coconut oil all over my body and i would go under the sun to become as dark as possible i was really doing well in sports at school too especially with long distance as well as long jump and short distance running too unfortunately in the year 1987 i was 12 years old studying at the kendra vidyala inalien bangalore on the final day of the sports day raju was throwing the javelin i did not notice that i was just busy warming up and the javelin came and hit my spinal cord and i was thrown to the ground and it was a miracle i survived the javelin hit but it did damage my spine and as a result i had to gradually end all my sporting activities as my back was severely hurt and i was i was really in great pain until today i still struggle with that pain i used to have the dream that one day i would represent india to perform at the olympic games as an athlete those days but once this javelin hit happened all my dreams were gone completely gone and sports was all about me watching i could not do much of sport activities in the year 1999 i went to santa fe new mexico in the usa to do my school of music in missions under the leadership of karen lefferty one of my classmates was noel and she gave me a videotape of preston reed as a christmas gift now when i watched preston reed play the guitar it was incredible and it was impossible to play like him so i cherished watching him but i never thought that i could ever play a piece like that so i took that videotape when i came back to india kept it safe watched once in a while but never thought that i could play in the year 2003 i got invited to attend the global arts gathering organized by youth with a mission in los angeles and suddenly god put this song tribes by preston reed in my heart i said god this is impossible look at my fingers i have arthritis how will i be able to play that my fingers are not long enough look at preston reed's fingers it is just amazing his fingers are built for playing the guitar like that hammer on style and percussive style but god said benny what is impossible for you is possible for me so i knelt down i prayed and i asked jesus to give me strength and the motivation to practice i remember practicing 140 hours in two weeks just this one piece learning how to tap the guitar hammer on pull off it was hurting at one point my fingers were even bleeding but you know i was passionate and god gave me the strength not to give up before i went to the u.s reggie chandi had invited me to perform at the glorious festival and this was the first time i played the peace tribes it was an incredible experience and i thank reggie for even encouraging me during that season so when i went to the u.s i went as an unknown artist and hardly i got an opportunity and most of the times when you are unknown you really don't get a good opportunity on the main stage you know many times it's incredible to see how an unknown artist reached a stage of success in my case i was given an opportunity to perform at the cafe during the break time and you know performing as an artist in a cafe is the worst experience for me because that's the time nobody cares what's happening they're busy with their teas our coffees and chit chats and laughing and here i'm playing my best but nobody even noticed it is as good as putting your picture on the chair and playing your cd but you know for me it was giving my best because i'm giving it to the lord you know from a place where the music teacher told me i will never be a musician having arthritis in my fingers having no proper instrument to even coming to the stage of getting an opportunity to play in a cafe was a big thing for me but i wanted to give my best to jesus for he is the one who led me to this path so i gave my best even though i hardly saw any appreciation but on the fifth day of the conference the ran short of money so they wanted to take up a special offering to cover up all the costs and suddenly they called me i said benny you know why don't you come and play a special song during the offertry time i took my guitar and you know i played the song tribes and everybody was shocked even though i played at the cafe people hardly noticed but here on the main stage when i played i got 100 attention at the end of the performance julie spence who was the dean of arts of the university of the nations came up to me and she said benny next year is the olympic games in greece are you interested in performing on the various stages over there i was so thrilled and excited my memories went back to those childhood days where i had the dream that one day i will make it to the olympic games and here god had a different way that he took me there as an artist i said julie i will be so thrilled and excited but they did tell me that you know it's the olympic games and you can't just share your testimony we just want your music and to entertain people but you know for me without my story my music is empty and i said god i really want to share my story you know a story from being a failure story where i was suicidal at 16 story where i was written off from my music school to coming to the place where i'm at that is when i prayed and i asked jesus to help me to design a guitar the world has never seen a unique guitar that will attract the athletes to come and look at my guitar and ask me questions and in turn i could share my story of pain and of suffering to where i've reached and how jesus transformed my pain into purpose from my mess into a message and this idea came from jesus and i give all the credit to him and i remember performing uh in different places in los angeles after this event and suddenly i went to a shop and i bought these small mini drums made by lp and came back to india went to tulsi guitars and designed this guitar on a piece of newspaper put two holes and i said i want many drums here and that's how this guitar became the world's first guitar with drums inside i had the privilege to perform for the official welcoming of south african athletes at the olympic games and it was a brilliant opportunity and you can see how the athletes had such amazing attention when i was playing my guitar and and it's it's just a privilege what god could do with a broken life and played at various stages [Music] dear friends i don't know what you're going through at this point in life might be your dreams have been shattered and squashed just like what happened with mine because of an accident being hit by a javelin every dream of sports was gone but still god fulfilled the dream of going to the olympic games god has a plan for your life he can turn your trials into triumphs in due time but you need to hold on and another lesson i learned is give your best regardless of who is watching you you know when i was playing at that cafe i gave my best regardless of whether i got the appreciation or know whether i was recognized or no i gave my best dear friends give your best be a god pleaser and not a man pleaser in due time he will lift you up in fact the bible says humble yourself and he will lift you up and that's what happened for me is that i took the opportunity which was not the best but i gave my best and god honored it and he gave me the amazing platform to perform on various cultural stages at the olympic games in greece [Music] don't give up no matter what happens and always give the credit to god for what he has done in your life and i thank jesus for taking a broken life like mine written off by everybody to making me a testimony of his grace of his truth and of his promise so i want to tell your friends hold on to hope hold on to god regardless of what you're going through in life and i know that god will carry you through and you will be able to get out of this difficult situation and a new beginning is coming up there and you will do wonders and i know that you will be a great testimony just like what jesus did with a life like mine and again if you have not subscribed to my youtube channel please do go to youtube.com bennyprasad and there is a bell icon there please click on that so that every time i post a video you will get a notification and please do share these videos so that it can be a source of inspiration and a blessing to many people god bless you all

Channel: Benny Prasad

Views: 13,090

Rating: 4.9569049 out of 5

Keywords: Benny Prasad, World Record, Fastest Traveler, Indian Passport, World's Fastest, World Record Travel Stories, Travel Stories, Travel, Stories, International Concert, Musician, Athens, Greece, 2004, Olympics, Olympic Games, Bentar, Bongo Guitar, Global Arts Gathering, YWAM, Javelin, Kendriya Vidyalaya, KVNAL, 1987, 12 years

Id: bo9JBEWKMfc

Length: 11min 5sec (665 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 03 2021