Daily Word...October 20, 2008

YOUR ACTIONS MAY CHANGE A LIFE

One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from my class waswalking home from school. His name was Kyle. It looked like he was carryingall of his books. I thought to myself, "Why would anyone bring home all hisbooks on a Friday? He must really be a nerd." I had quite a weekend planned(parties and a football game with my friends tomorrow afternoon), so Ishrugged my shoulders and went on.

As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him. They ran at him,knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in thedirt. His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about tenfeet from him. He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes. Myheart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him and as he crawled aroundlooking for his glasses, and I saw a tear in his eye. As I handed him hisglasses, I said, "Those guys are jerks. They really should get lives." Helooked at me and said, "Hey thanks!" There was a big smile on his face. Itwas one of those smiles that showed real gratitude. I helped him pick up hisbooks, and asked him where he lived. As it turned out, he lived near me, soI asked him why I had never seen him before. He said he had gone to privateschool before now. I would have never hung out with a private school kidbefore. We talked all the way home, and I carried his books. He turned outto be a pretty cool kid. I asked him if he wanted to play football onSaturday with me and my friends. He said yes. We hung all weekend and themore I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him. And my friends thought thesame of him. Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack ofbooks again. I stopped him and said, "boy, you are gonna really build someserious muscles with this pile of books everyday!" He just laughed andhanded me half the books.

Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends. When we wereseniors, began to think about college. Kyle decided on Georgetown, and I wasgoing to Duke. I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles wouldnever be a problem. He was going to be a doctor, and I was going forbusiness on a football scholarship. Kyle was valedictorian of our class. Iteased him all the time about being a nerd. He had to prepare a speech forgraduation. I was so glad it wasn't me having to get up there and speak.Graduation day, I saw Kyle. He looked great. He was one of those guys thatreally found himself during high school. He filled out and actually lookedgood in glasses. He had more dates than me and all the girls loved him! Boy,sometimes I was jealous. Today was one of those days. I could see that hewas nervous about his speech. So, I smacked him on the back and said, "Hey,big guy, you'll be great!" He looked at me with one of those looks (thereally grateful one) and smiled. "Thanks," he said. As he started hisspeech, he cleared his throat, and began: "Graduation is a time to thankthose who helped you make it through those tough years. Your parents, yourteachers, your siblings, maybe a coach...but mostly your friends. I am hereto tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you cangive them. I am going to tell you a story." I just looked at my friend withdisbelief as he told the story of the first day we met. He had planned tokill himself over the weekend. He talked of how he had cleaned out hislocker so his mom wouldn't have to do it later and was carrying his stuffhome. He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile. "Thankfully, I wassaved. My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable." I heard the gasp gothrough the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about hisweakest moment. I saw his mom and dad looking at me smiling that samegrateful smile. Not until that moment did I realize it's depth. Never underestimate the power of your actions. With one small gesture youcan change a person's life.

For better or for worse. God puts us all in eachother's lives to impact one another in some way. Look for God in others. --

Author Unknown

2008, general +add