Friends, heroes, and people you may have never known.

There was a time in the early 2000s when an OCF family was struck by a horrific tragedy.  This tragedy rested in one family but impacted all of us.  A young lady, daughter of one of our beloved staff became severely disabled.  It was a dark time, full of prayer asking for a miracle.  It was a time when we needed help and low and behold a man and his wife came upon the scene and they provided all the assistance possible.  Not to go further into this, but they were a couple who had tremendous hearts and wanted desperately to alleviate the suffering of this young lady and her family just as they had been working to alleviate the suffering of so many of our wounded warriors and their families during the Global War on Terrorism.  Despite all their efforts, this young lady went to be with the Lord after a two-and-one-half year battle.  When I called to inform our friends of the sad news, the response was, “she was in a better place.”  The couple; Mr. H. Ross Perot and his wife Margo.  What people, they extend acts of kindness all the time and you never hear about it. They are my heroes.

So, what about another hero–a Marine, the best Marine ever; you can find him in my book.  He shared his faith with so many; on the battlefield, in seminars, through motivational speaking, and through his examples of servant leadership.  He once related a story of when he was assigned to the British Royal Marines.  They were conducting an exercise assaulting the cliffs of Scotland in a rubber raft.  Full of ice and snow, and shivering cold, his comment that I’ll never forget was; “I can’t believe the Marines are paying me to have this much fun.”  He always had a positive attitude knowing that his real strength resided in the Lord.  That is only one story; check on the battle fields of Vietnam, the Spring Canyon Conference Center, or in Spring Canyon’s Rocky Mountain High program where he opened peoples’ heart to Jesus.  Those are the places you’ll find the legacy of one of my other heroes, Tom Hemmingway.  There was no better.  Oh, and did I say he built buildings, well the one above was part of his vision.  Semper Fi.

Find the rest of the story in my book at Growingandbuilding.com.