Happy New Year! How are you doing so far? Did you write out your bucket list instead of New Year’s resolutions like I talked about last week? Well, today’s message isn’t about goals or bucket lists. However, if you’re feeling down because you broke your New Year’s resolution already, this video is for you. I wanted to share two stories that restored my faith in humanity! Both come from the world of sports and I’m happy to share the goodness with you today. The first one is a recent story about Diamond Campbell. She’s a 16 year old power lifter whose team made it to the state finals. When she finished her first power lift, instead of three green lights to indicate it was a legal lift, she was surprised to see three red lights! Her lift didn’t count. The reason blew me away. It didn’t count because she had beads in her hair. (I show her picture in today’s video.) Her coach and teammates came to her and quickly started helping take her beads out. But the part that restored my faith in humanity, is that her competitors came over to help. This quick, collaborative act of kindness went beyond competition. She was able to lift again in time without her beads and won 4th place in the state. They thankfully have since changed the rule about beads!
The second story is no secret. It’s about Damar Hamlin. As you probably saw, he suffered and accident during an NFL game on Monday Night Football. His heart stopped and was administered CPR and was whisked away by ambulance to the hospital. It’s as if the world of sports collectively held their breath. But, that’s not what I wanted to highlight. The part of this story that has restored my faith in humanity is that Damar has a charity to raise money for toys to donate to underprivileged children. The goal of his charity was to raise $2500. And, 3 days after the world knew his name, his charity was flooded with donations. In fact, over 223,000 people donated to his Community Toy Drive for a total (as of this writing) of $7,210,260.00! Yes, over $7 million has been raised for the charity of an individual that most of us had never heard of until his accident on Monday Night Football. This restores my faith in humanity. People have come together in prayer and good thoughts for a quick recovery. This makes me feel good. Which is why I recommend for you that if you are feeling down or in any kind of rut, think of stories like this. If you can’t donate to a charity like this, then just surf the internet for stories of hope like this. Then, feel that light come back, illuminating your way back to the front-row.
P. S. When Damar woke up, he was able to communicate in writing and his first words were “Did we win the game?” His doctor said; “Yes, you won the game of life”.
Here’s to shining your light –
Your Head Usher,
