Whew, what a week. It is hard to worry, plan and prepare for something that is out there but still doesn’t exactly involve you. It is kind of like preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. But I have learned more about Child Predators in the last week than I ever cared to know.
The Y has decided to take a proactive approach and use this time as an opening to educate and counsel parents on how to discuss such serous subjects with their kids. We have sent notes to the parents of the kids in all of our programs, throughout every branch in our association. We have encouraged them to take the time to talk to their kids about good and bad behavior. We have placed info on our web site www.clevecoymca.org titled Special Information for Families.
We also have mailed out letters to the parents of kids that have come in direct contact with this coach over the past 3 seasons. This letter outlined how to talk to their children and what to do in case a child offers up some information. We met with the parents of the current team to answer their questions and to specifically listen to their needs. We have arranged to refer them to counseling if needed.
I know that this is a serious converstaion to have with your child but it is necessary. I feel like I almost have to teach my kids to trust no one!!! That makes for a sad world.
And my thoughts this week center around the young men who came forward with this horrific abuse. Thinking about them keeping this nightmare private for a decade makes my heart ache. Their unusual act of bravery to bring their story forward will probably save lives. Unfortunately we may not know for another decade if this accused predator has abused others. That is why your YMCA is taking great strides to say, "I know this is an awkward thing to talk about. But it is an important discussion and a necessary evil in today’s climate."
Our prayers will continue to be with those brave young men and their families. We will pray for the individuals out there in our world that are trying to bury a secret that just will not stay buried. And we need to pray for parents everywhere.
Today, those bad calls from the umpires seem so trivial. My son’s strike out with the tying run on third is not even a speck on my radar. But my desire to have my child, your child and every child grow up without the fear of all of the evil that is around us, fuels me! I stand resolute and committed.
May 17, 2007
May 5, 2007
Charlie Harry
March 16th: The boiler in our pool was recently down a month. The water temperature has dropped to about 70 degrees. I am sure if most of us went swimming now we would first dip our toes in the water and feel how cold it is. We would probably walk over to the steps and get our feet acclimated to the temperature and then our calves and then we would slowly walk into the water until our entire body has adjusted to the 70 degree temperature.
If we were to get into the water like that, the experience of swimming would probably be miserable. This is just a series of uncomfortable moments that strung together will make for a miserable experience.
But Mike Breaux, the author of the book Making Ripples, says that the cannon ball is a much better way to enter the water. He suggest that we should get a running start, and just as we hit the edge of the pool we jump as high as we can, tuck in mid air and wait to hit that cold 70 degree water. The splash would go everywhere and the ripples would go to the wall and back. If the pool walls weren’t there, those ripples would just continue to go out, long after we made our splash.
Mike Breaux suggests this is what God has in mind for us. God says to us, “Trust me – Jump. Make a splash with your one and only life, and we can make ripples together. Live your life in such a way that you touch someone else’s life. Then they’ll touch someone else’s life, and they’ll touch another life, and so on and so on.
Paul put it this way in 2nd Corinthians – “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.”
Charlie Harry lived his life in constant ripple. Touching the lives of not only the people in this room but thousands at the Y and someday millions around the world. Because he knew that a life can touch a life that touches a life.
I needed Charlie recently. We opened bids for the Boiling Springs YMCA and they were much greater than I had hoped for. I must have been pretty pale sitting around that table, wondering what I was going to do to make this vision come through.
If Charlie would have been there he would have first made me laugh and got me to relax. Then he would have just walked me through the realities and the discussions of the economics, potential, and what ifs. But at the end he would have brought me back to the vision and the lives that would be changed and he would have encouraged me to come back with a plan that would focus on that – life change.
Because Charlie knew that a life touches a life that touches a life.
If we were to get into the water like that, the experience of swimming would probably be miserable. This is just a series of uncomfortable moments that strung together will make for a miserable experience.
But Mike Breaux, the author of the book Making Ripples, says that the cannon ball is a much better way to enter the water. He suggest that we should get a running start, and just as we hit the edge of the pool we jump as high as we can, tuck in mid air and wait to hit that cold 70 degree water. The splash would go everywhere and the ripples would go to the wall and back. If the pool walls weren’t there, those ripples would just continue to go out, long after we made our splash.
Mike Breaux suggests this is what God has in mind for us. God says to us, “Trust me – Jump. Make a splash with your one and only life, and we can make ripples together. Live your life in such a way that you touch someone else’s life. Then they’ll touch someone else’s life, and they’ll touch another life, and so on and so on.
Paul put it this way in 2nd Corinthians – “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.”
Charlie Harry lived his life in constant ripple. Touching the lives of not only the people in this room but thousands at the Y and someday millions around the world. Because he knew that a life can touch a life that touches a life.
I needed Charlie recently. We opened bids for the Boiling Springs YMCA and they were much greater than I had hoped for. I must have been pretty pale sitting around that table, wondering what I was going to do to make this vision come through.
If Charlie would have been there he would have first made me laugh and got me to relax. Then he would have just walked me through the realities and the discussions of the economics, potential, and what ifs. But at the end he would have brought me back to the vision and the lives that would be changed and he would have encouraged me to come back with a plan that would focus on that – life change.
Because Charlie knew that a life touches a life that touches a life.
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