Thank You's for an Unknown Ear

When I was growing up, I have to admit that I was a pretty wussy kid. I wouldn't put any more effort into something than the bare minimum, I really hated who I was, and I felt like I was an outcast from the rest of the kids my age. At the time I did what all people do: I felt like I was the only one who was/felt this way. Then along came a person that looked into me and saw who I was. Unlike me though, they could look at me from the outside, they didn't see all of the junk that clogged my vision from the inside out. They knew that I was just a boy that was struggling to get along, but had so much potential if somebody would just invest in them.

This too is something that I thought was unique to me, but fortunately it isn't. I'm sure each of us can think back to a particular someone who believed in us when we didn't, and thought more of ourselves than we did. That one person is likely gone from our lives, but oh, the impact they made! Perhaps for you that person helped you to decide where you wanted to go with your life. Or maybe they just saved you from a bully and helped you to gain enough courage to stand up for yourself. For me that person was a man named Dr. John Rogers. He was the first person that really believed in me and showed me that I could be more. He recommended me to be an exchange student, pointed my life in the direction it is now heading, caused me to want to try harder at what I do, and helped to teach me the value of saying thank you.

But saying 'thank you' is something that I will never be able to because I never realized how important he was to my life until he had passed thru my life. Since that time that he helped me, I've no clue how to contact him, tell him how much he meant to me, or just show him the man I've become. I thought until recently that I was unique, but from the conversation with my dad, I came to realize that each of us is touched by someone at a critical point in our lives. Perhaps that person is one that will build us, but more sadly, what if that person was the one that led us to want to kill ourselves? Or to give up because life 'isn't worth it'? How tragic would it be if at some critical moment in our growth that we were torn down instead of built up?

That's why I'm so excited about this summer. I'm going to spend several weeks so that I can help some kid realize that he has inherent worth, that I think he's great how God made him, and that if he sets his mind and will to it that he can be an even greater man. I don't know who the person is in your life that may have done the same for you, but I do know there is probably someone you'll never really be able to thank because it was too late when you realized what all they had done for you.