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This last weekend we saw the video of the young man who was bullied at school.  Kids made fun of his nose and poured milk on him. This is just outrageous. There are no words to express the heartbreak I feel in my heart over things like this. I was bullied in school. I remember once parking in the ‘wrong parking lot’ at school.  There was the “JOC lot” and then the “regular lot.”  I parked my 1978 El Camino in the JOC lot one day. I came out at 3 p.m. to filthy and foul language splattered all over my car, why? Because I parked in the wrong lot. Kids can be horribly mean.

Kids are meanI remember the pain I felt because of what those students did to me. Why did they do this? Because they wanted to make sure that the other students did not see their flaws. So they shine the light on someone else’s flaws in order not to be hurt first. The whole “eat before being eaten” mentality. Yes, it stinks, but sadly it’s the sinful and broken world in which we live. I thank God I had a strong family and solid youth group with students who loved and poured into me because I sure was not getting that my first two years of high school.

Dear Christian Student,

You need to be the person that steps in and LOVES other kids who are not the cool kids.  You need to step in and befriend the kids who have no friends.  That is exactly what happened to me. At the end of my sophomore year of school and the beginning of my junior year of high school, a young man named Andy Myers stepped in and became my friend.  He was the CLASS PRESIDENT.  He was athletic and super talented.  He stepped in and offed me his friendship. I took it.

Come to find out, he was crazy in love with JESUS, and that was what truly shined through. He loved Jesus more than he cared about what other kids thought. So he became my best friend in school. His faith had legs. His faith had action. He did not just talk a big game in his church. He showed off a big game in the halls of his school. And because one guy stepped up and DID what he said he BELIEVED, it changed my world!

You have the power to change someone’s world today. Put your feet down and start walking out your faith in real ways in the hallways of your schools today. Show off the love of Jesus to people who are different from you or are in a different social status. You never know how that can affect someone. I can say with certainty I am the man I am today because Andy took time to be my friend and show me what the love of Jesus really looked like.

Be the change you say you are!