At 79, right where I belong!
Elliot
and Douger have something in common.
We’ve
been reading and hearing a lot about Elliot Uzelac these days. He’s the fine American football coach, with a
history in the pros and in college football, who at the age of 74 decided
to serve as head coach at Benton Harbor High School.
For
those who aren’t familiar with the story, the high school is located in a
community fraught with problems, and all of those problems were reflected in
the history of the local high school football team. Prior to this season, the team had won only 4
games in 8 years!
Uzelac
had a successful and productive career as a football coach. But he couldn’t resist this challenge. Within days after assuming his new position,
things began to turn around. And after
the last game was played, the team was able to boast about its first winning
season in 25 years! The team even went
on to win its first game ever in the playoffs!
There’s
a much bigger story here. The kids
learned a lot more than how to win football games. They learned that regardless of skin color,
there are people who care. Thanks to the
coach and his wife, who took it on herself to see that these hungry players in
a low-income community received good meals, self-esteem has risen to the surface
for the first time in decades. And it
extends far beyond the team…it radiates all through this battered and abused
community. Hope and pride now fill a
huge gap that was prevalent in Benton Harbor, Michigan.
Here’s
my take on all this. All his years of
coaching at the college and professional level were simply God’s way of preparing
him to take on this challenge: serving
the downtrodden. His last career, the
one at age 74, is the one with real meaning.
Said
Elliot: Kids are worth it!
I’m
thinking about all of this on the morning of my 79th birthday.
My
two earlier careers were not nearly as noteworthy as those of Coach
Uzelac. But I loved both of them. I began my career in radio as a part-time announcer,
disc jockey and newsman, in 1954. I ended
it as a radio station owner in 1983.
Throughout my broadcasting career, I tried to focus on small market
excellence, especially in radio journalism, and focused on helping, what I
called, “the little guy.” There were
awards. Local. State. National. That plus a buck will get you a senior
coffee.
After
that I served a fine local dealership as a church organ sales
representative. As an active church musician
it was an extension of something I love, and I was proud to have been involved
in improving and enhancing the music programs and worship services of more than
200 churches over a 21-year period. At
our peak, our little dealership reached national recognition as the dealer of
the year. Worth another senior coffee.
But
as I reflect on it, as in Elliot’s case, this was God’s way of preparing me for
my third, final, and most important career:
extending a cup of cool water in the name of Jesus to prisoners: serving the downtrodden. This is the one with real meaning.
Says
Douger: Prisoners are worth it!
Elliot
and Douger. Right where God put them.
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