The cross

I had the privilege of representing our school on television a while back. It was a show that was taped called "High School Sports Live". Ironic isn't it...that we would have to tape a live show! Along with four of our basketball players, I was interviewed about winning our state championship. It was a bit stressful and I was apprehensive when Coach Glenn first asked me to do it. He is much better at those types of things than I.

I used to do interviews on a television sports show when I was at Grand Valley State as the tennis coach. I also used to do radio interviews at halftime of our Womens basketball games at GVSU. I can tell you that I never worried about what I was wearing on the radio shows...which is good considering my wardrobe.

So I thought a little bit about it before we went to the television station and decided to go with something moderately casual. The guys were were khaki pants and their warm-up jackets. I went with some khaki cords, a blue t-shirt, and my Westbury Christian Faculty sweatervest. I spent all of about 2 minutes thinking about the ensemble.

As we were getting ready to shoot, I had an itch at the back of my neck. It was a wooden cross that was given to me by fellow coach and blogger extraordinaire, Steve Hawley. Coach Hawley got it for me on one of his mission trips to Honduras. I have had it for four years and don't remember taking it off much. I decided to pull it out and wear it over the sweatervest.

I came to school the next morning and one of our faculty members, Jennifer Zalud, stopped me in the hall and said, "We saw you on TV this weekend". She said, "Jon noticed that your were wearing your Honduras cross". Jon is her son. You see, the kids at our school recognize these crosses because several of them have been given the crosses by Coach Hawley as well. Coach Hawley collects change from our students to take to a Childrens Home in Honduras every summer and has collected tens of thousands of dollars. Jon is a young elementary student (I think he is in the first or second grade). Jon is a legend in collecting change for Honduran kids.

In my world, at times, it is all about basketball and "the work", and what an ego trip it is to be on television. Jon Zalud, helped me realize alot of lessons about who I am and who it is that I represent just by seeing that little wooden cross around my neck. I think about all of the times that I don't even think about the impression I am making on the kids around me here at Westbury Christian School. The things that I dare say and the things that I dare do are not always reflective of the man who the little wooden cross represents.

So later in the day, I was walking into the gym and Jon saw me down the hall and yelled, "Coach I saw your Honduras cross on TV". How humbling is that? It wasn't "Coach, I saw you on TV". Jon has his eyes fixed on the cross, figuratively and literally. How cool is it that Jon has his eyes fixed on noticing that little cross and what it represents? Jon Zalud taught me a great lesson about "the cross".

There goes my hero...

"V-Cox is back from Iraq". Although that sounds poetic, his stay there was not. He is my hero.

Our student body was fortunate to be able to hear from Vincenzo Cox on Tuesday during the middle school and high school chapel times at the school where I teach, Westbury Christian School. He gave several stories from his experience to express to the students how truly fortunate they are to have the lives and creature-comforts that they have. He told stories of physical and emotional pain.

I was fortunate to be able to have Vincenzo come speak to my Health classes as well. If the kids were in chapel, they only know about some of his war stories. They don't know the whole story. Vincenzo is a world-class athlete. He grew up in Miami. He was a self-proclaimed sub-par student who didn't take advantage of opportunities as a teenager. He was offered a scholarship to run track at Arizona State University, but could not qualify academically. He joined a program in the army for athletes and became a member of the National Guard. Later, he latched on to the track program at the University of Houston and a coach that has trained some of the great track athletes of all time; Carl Lewis, Leroy Burrell, and Mike Marsh (among others). He succeeded on the track. Later, he took up soccer and was able to work out with two English teams and the Columbus Crew of the MLS. Recently, he has been a teacher in the Alief district working with special educational students.

He was able to speak candidly in class about his concerns about the war, about Army politics, about being persecuted in Iraq for his religious beliefs and practices as a founding member of the Church of Christ in Tikrit. He was singled out and sent to Mosul for a hearing regarding those practices, but thanks to letters from higher ranking doctors at his base, he was not "punished". He was relocated to Kuwait, where he started a church that now has between 40 and 50 people in attendance every service.

As our students watched, and hopefully listened, to Vincenzo talk about his greatest achievement being the gift of the Holy Spirit at his baptism. You could tell they couldn't believe after all his accomplishments, that his baptism would be the one thing he pointed to.

I asked them to ponder two questions and comment before the end of the day on Friday. If you would like to share stories of people that you know that are heros by answering the questions...feel free.

Question #1; Share your thoughts on Vincenzo's experiences. What stands out to you?

Question #2; How do you think these experiences affected Vincenzo in each of his four types of health; Physically, Mentally, Socially, and Spiritually?