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Delwar
First time out of the state.
Out of the city, too, for that matter.
Fifteen, black, poor, never known his father.
His mother scraping by on two jobs. Government housing.
A coach invited him to a Christian sports camp; a businessman paid his
way.
After an 8-hour bus trip with 38 other lads, he was in the Blue Ridge
Mountains. He stood there in his worn out tennis shoes, holding a small
gym bag with his only extra tee shirt, two pairs of socks, a change of
underwear, a toothbrush.
Wide-eyed at the gathering campers numbering nearly 600, he surveyed the
incredible vista of North Carolina's high Blue Ridge Mountains with new
eyes.
"My name's Delwar," he said, shaking my hand limply, his shoulders
stooped, eyes averted.
Assigned to a small group with a college-aged mentor, he'd spend the next
four days rising at 6:15 A.M. for calisthenics, reading his Bible during
30 minutes of quiet time, playing intramural sports, listening to
professional and collegiate sports heroes testify to Jesus in their lives,
and discussing his feelings with his small group.
For the first time in his short life he was not surrounded by profanity.
Or violence.
There was no sex, no hip hop music blaring, no TV, no cigarettes, no
alcohol or drugs. Just inspiration and perspiration. And responsible male
role models.
I saw him go forward at the invitation the third night. No tears. Just a
look of firm resolve on his face. "I'm choosing Christ," he said.
The last day he came to my class on "The Ten Most Asked Questions of the
Christian Faith." Didn't want proof of God or riches or health or athletic
stardom. He wanted to know how to tell his mama there is hope, how to tell
his classmates there is another way besides lust and violence and self.
I shook Delwar's hand as he boarded the bus to head for home. His
shoulders were more squared, his handshake had firmed, and he looked me in
the eye like the boy-more-become-a-man he was.
"Remember Jesus," I urged as he left. And I prayed for him, his mama, his
school, and the coach who was waiting for him down the mountain, in the
city, on the playground, by the school, across the tracks from the
factory.
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