Saturday, January 12, 2013

< RM > story - A Gift From God

A Gift From God

One day, when I was a freshman in high
school, I saw a kid from my class was walk-
ing home from school. His name was Kyle. It
looked like he was carrying all of his books. I
thought to myself, "Why would anyone bring
home all his books on a Friday? He must
really be a nerd."

I had quite a weekend planned (parties
and a football game with my friends tomor-
row afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders
and went on.

As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids
running toward him. They ran at him, knock-
ing all his books out of his arms and tripping
him so he landed in the dirt. His glasses went
flying, and I saw them
land in the grass about
ten feet from him. He
looked up and I saw this
terrible sadness in his
eyes. My heart went out
to him. So, I jogged over
to him and as he crawled
around looking for his
glasses, and I saw a tear
in his eye.

As I handed him his
glasses, I said, "Those
guys are jerks. They
really should get lives."

He looked at me and said, "Hey thanks!"
There was a big smile on his face.

It was one of those smiles that showed
real gratitude. I helped him pick up his
books, and asked him where he lived. As it
turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him
why I had never seen him before. He said he
had gone to private school before now. I
would have never hung out with a private
school kid before.

We talked all the way home, and I carried
his books. He turned out to be a pretty cool
kid. I asked him if he wanted to play football
on Saturday with me and my friends. He said
yes.

We hung all weekend and the more I got
to know Kyle, the more I liked him. And my
friends thought the same of him. Monday
morning came, and there was Kyle with the
huge stack of books again. I stopped him and
said, "Darn boy, you are gonna really build
some serious muscles with this pile of books
everyday!" He just laughed and handed me
half the books.

Over the next four years, Kyle and I
became best friends. When we were seniors,
we began to think about college. Kyle decid-
ed on Georgetown, and I was going to Duke.
I knew that we would always be friends, that
the miles would never be a problem. He was
going to be a doctor, and I was going for
business on a football scholarship.

Kyle was valedictorian of our class. I
teased him all the time about being a nerd.
He had to prepare a speech for graduation. 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 that really
found himself during high school. He filled
out and actually looked good 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 he was
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
(the really grateful one)
and smiled. "Thanks,"
he said.

As he started his
speech, he cleared his
throat, and began.
"Graduation is a time to
thank those who helped
you make it through
those tough years. Your
parents, your teachers,
your siblings, maybe a
coach ... , but mostly your friends. I am here
to tell all of you that being a friend to some-
one is the best gift you can give them. I am
going to tell you a story."

I just looked at my friend with disbelief as
he told the story of the first day we met. He
had planned to kill himself over the weekend.
He talked of how he had cleaned out his lock-
er so his mom wouldn't have to do it later
and was carrying his stuff home. He looked
hard at me and gave me a little smile.
"Thankfully, I was saved. My friend saved me
from doing the unspeakable."

I heard the gasp go through the crowd as
this handsome, popular boy told us all about
his weakest moment. I saw his mom and dad
looking at me and smiling that same grateful
smile. Not until that moment did I realize its
depth.

Never underestimate the power of your
actions. With one small gesture you can
change a person's life. For better or for
worse. God puts us all in each other's lives to
impact one another in some way. Look for
God in others.
Each day is a gift from God! Don't forget
to say, "Thank you!"

1 comment:

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