A Pastoral Word. . .
Pastor Mark Adams
May 12, 2022
I realize winter is behind us (hopefully!) but this week I came across a “snow story” that warmed my heart and the hearts of several elderly individuals living in the South Hills area of Pittsburgh, PA.
On January 17 of this year a snowstorm hit causing schools to be closed. When that happened, Brian DeLallo, football coach at Bethel Park High School tweeted his team telling them that practice was cancelled--including their weight training.
But instead of giving them a day off, the coach encouraged them to shovel the driveways of their neighbors instead. He told his team, “Find an elderly or disabled neighbor and shovel their driveway. Don’t accept any money. That’s our Monday workout. Use your legs and keep your backs tight!”
Approximately 40 players did exactly as their coach instructed. They traded their dumbbells for snow shovels and headed outdoors in frigid temperatures on Martin Luther King Day to help their community.
This understandably made DeLallo proud: “You get a lot more out of this than ‘did you bench press 300 pounds today?’ This is really cool. It’s a chance to connect with the community and you don’t get many of those, so this is nice.”
The players tackled dozens of their neighbors’ driveways and afterwards texted Coach DeLallo to tell him it felt wonderful to help others.
And the recipients of this winter weight-lifting work out felt the same. Bethel Park resident Robert Klein was overwhelmed by the magnitude of the gesture saying: “I have lived in Bethel Park for more than 40 years now and acts of kindness like this are exactly why I have stayed for as long as I have and why I will never leave,” Klein said. “These young men have no idea how much something like this means to me and it makes me so proud to live here.”
Is your heart warmed? If not, find someone in your community who is in need and help them.
Remember as it says in God’s Word, we are to: “Carry each other’s burdens and in this way fulfill the law of Christ. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Keep the SON in your eyes!
Mark
On January 17 of this year a snowstorm hit causing schools to be closed. When that happened, Brian DeLallo, football coach at Bethel Park High School tweeted his team telling them that practice was cancelled--including their weight training.
But instead of giving them a day off, the coach encouraged them to shovel the driveways of their neighbors instead. He told his team, “Find an elderly or disabled neighbor and shovel their driveway. Don’t accept any money. That’s our Monday workout. Use your legs and keep your backs tight!”
Approximately 40 players did exactly as their coach instructed. They traded their dumbbells for snow shovels and headed outdoors in frigid temperatures on Martin Luther King Day to help their community.
This understandably made DeLallo proud: “You get a lot more out of this than ‘did you bench press 300 pounds today?’ This is really cool. It’s a chance to connect with the community and you don’t get many of those, so this is nice.”
The players tackled dozens of their neighbors’ driveways and afterwards texted Coach DeLallo to tell him it felt wonderful to help others.
And the recipients of this winter weight-lifting work out felt the same. Bethel Park resident Robert Klein was overwhelmed by the magnitude of the gesture saying: “I have lived in Bethel Park for more than 40 years now and acts of kindness like this are exactly why I have stayed for as long as I have and why I will never leave,” Klein said. “These young men have no idea how much something like this means to me and it makes me so proud to live here.”
Is your heart warmed? If not, find someone in your community who is in need and help them.
Remember as it says in God’s Word, we are to: “Carry each other’s burdens and in this way fulfill the law of Christ. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Keep the SON in your eyes!
Mark
Posted in A Pastoral Word
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