Sometimes people choose
to do things over and above what is expected or outside of the realm of what is
predicted or mandated. In the process,
others may be helped, encouraged, or blessed.
Senior adults in the
Netherlands are said to be some of the happiest and rank #4 for quality of
life. Instead of traditional nursing
homes, the seniors live in a house with up to 7 residents. These homes are replicas of the ones built in
the 1950’s, since that is where most of their clear memories originate. College students may live in the homes for
free in exchange for 30 hours of activities with the senior adults each month.
The residents feel more connected with the outside world when interacting with
the young people.
Cody Gross is the head
football coach for Athens High School in northern Alabama. He realizes that coaching is more than just
teaching young men how to play and win games.
They also need to be taught to be winners in life. With such a conviction, Coach Gross recruited
Defensive Coach Steve Carter to set aside time each week to teach the athletes
how to do some basic life lessons. Thus
began “Manly Mondays” where the young men learn to…
* Look
people in the eye and give a firm handshake
*
Change a tire
* Check
the oil and transmission fluid in the car
* Tie a
neck tie
* Do
basic plumbing
*
Magnetize a screwdriver
…and the list goes
on. For Mother’s Day he told the young
men to be creative and make something for their mom. Coach Gross also emphasized that they are to
treat women with respect and to do things for them. About young people, Coach concluded, “We’re
here to try to grow them up into being a man and a woman. That’s what we’re here for; that’s my purpose
in life. I think that’s why I live and
breathe is to spread the good news.”
The Alternative Learning
Center in Dubuque, Iowa, is a school that reaches out to junior and senior high
students who often struggle with schoolwork and are at risk of dropping out of
school. The school offers independent as
well as project-based learning, in order to encourage and help their students
succeed. The last two weeks of the
semester the students were offered the opportunity to receive credit for their
P.E. class by completing yard work or other assignments for the elderly or
disabled. The students helped with the
landscaping program by mowing lawns, raking leaves, trimming hedges, weeding
gardens, and chopping firewood. Some
chose to participate by cleaning up a river barge or the golf course. Tim Hitzler, a teacher at the school told
KWWL, “giving the students this option during the last two weeks of classes is
a great opportunity for them to give back while getting a workout at the same
time. The act of helping others is what
makes the program so impactful.” Some of
the students chose to continue volunteering over the summer. Hitzler said some students come back to help
even after they graduate. “There’s
something about helping people that really need it.”
For
even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his
life as a ransom for many.
Mark 10:45
You,
my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to
indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
Galatians 5:13
Serve
wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know
that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are
slave or free.
Ephesians 6:7-8
Each
of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful
stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.
1 Peter 4:10
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