A high school football coach in Utah suspended all 80 players from his team due to reports of bullying and academic issues. In a letter to the team from the school's coach staff last Friday, players were told that if they participated in community service activities, took character-education classes and participated in extra study hall sessions, they would earn the right to play again in upcoming games.
In other words, a good man stood up for righteousness, for those who couldn't protect themselves, and for those who could but were choosing a wrong path.
Look, I was a football player, and I know or knew what it was like to walk in the path of the in-crowd. And I know what it was like to exclude others because of "who" we were. We didn't bully so much then as now, but leaving people out is or could be just as bad.
Parents, coaches, teachers, ministers, youth directors, Sunday School teachers, etc., can make a difference by simply saying, "this attitude, this way of living won't be tolerated any longer."
No more disrespect. No more pants hanging around the bottom of the barrel. No more bullying. No more hating. No more exclusion.
No more!
It only takes a few to make a difference.
A boy with a bunch of rocks.
A man who is told to go and does.
A man who is knocked off a horse and changes the world afterwards.
A man who turns down fishing for fish for the amazing notion of fishing for men.
A woman who lets Israeli spies into her town.
A woman who is told she will become pregnant by the Holy Spirit of God and says yes.
It doesn't take millions. It takes someone who is willing to stand up and stand out.
A woman who feeds hundreds every time there is some sort of disaster.
A man who searches deep within himself to discover what can help alcoholics and does, because he is one.
A man who person who travels by modified motorcycle to show that the handicapped don't have to be.
A college student who helps build a school in Nepal.
On and on we go. But first we must start. First we must show courage. First we must finally stop and say, no more. This can't go on, whatever this is. We must change. We must become more righteous. We must become more holy.
And there is only one way that can be accomplished. That is through no self-help book or course. We begin to help each other when we allow God to help us.
Here's how it works:
In 1985 Dave Valle, who at the time was a minor-league catcher in the Seattle Mariners farm system making $9,000 a year, promised himself that one day he'd return to Santo Domingo and help more.
He's kept his promise. Today, Valle is in the business of changing lives.
In 1995, he founded Esperanza International, a microfinance outreach effort that gives small loans to the poorest of the poor in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, which occupies the other half of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. Over the past 18 years, Esperanza has provided $38 million in loans, helping thousands of families put food on the table and break the cycle of poverty.
"When I think of selfless people, I think of Dave and his wife, Vicky," says Kayla Villnow, once a volunteer with Esperanza and now a full-time fundraiser and coordinator with the foundation. "They've built an organization that's served hundreds of thousands of people. It's amazing."
If all the persons who claim to be Christians understood that means to "follow" the Lord, we would have more difference makers.
One man stepping up to do good in small measures can literally change the world. The question isn't how. The question is why not?
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