LJ Idol Exhibit B, Week 1 (Intersection: "Chillin' Like a Villain")
"The Gift of Life"
(Applause and cheers ring out, as a small, bespectacled man steps out to the pulpit.)
Thank you all! You're too kind.I wanted to tell you a story about a young man. His name is Jerome, and he comes from the mean streets of Chicago. We're talking the areas where you don't drive after sunset. Even the cops look at this place and say, "You know what, you guys do your own thing. We'll be over here."
Jerome's home was broken, his father long gone, his mother working three jobs to support four kids. Any kind of trouble you can imagine a teenager being in, he was in it. Drugs, gangs, girls, you name it. His teacher at school could see that he was brilliant--he always did well on the standardized tests--but he never seemed to pay attention in class, if he even showed up at all.
Had nobody taken the time to reach out to him--had nobody made the effort to say, "How can we help? What do you want to do with your life?"--who knows where he'd be today. Probably still on the streets, if he wasn't in the penitentiary or the grave.But our ministry--Hoode Ministries--found him. His guidance counselor at school recommended him to us, and we reached him. We gave him the Gospel, and you know what it did? It changed his life.
He left the streets behind, he repented of his sins, he started working for the school. He got himself into college. And you know where he's going? Harvard. Like I said, he was always smart, but now he was applying himself. He told me yesterday that he was about to finish his engineering degree, and he already had a job lined up. He's going to get his family--and himself--out of the slums and onto easy street. They'll no longer have to worry about where their next meal is coming from; they get to enjoy life, the way God intended.
And we got them there.
But for every success story, there are so many kids just like Jerome who end up lost. We can't reach everyone--not without your help.
I know, in these tough times, it's difficult for a lot of you to give. But think of how blessed we are, to even be in a position to consider giving. The people we're trying to reach don't even have the option to give--they're too busy trying to survive.
You can help. All it takes is filling out our form online, or calling Hoode Ministries at 1-800-55-HOODE. Or, for those of you who are lucky enough to be with us today at the Forrester Hotel, you can fill out the forms at the table in the back.
Now, please welcome back to the stage, the merry men and women of the Rob Hoode Gospel Choir!
(Cheers and applause as the opening strains of "I Give Myself Away" ring out.)
Author's note: We start Exhibit B with an intersection: my partner this week is the talented, hilarious roina_arwen. Her entry can be found here.