Letter To Harley

January 24, 2011

Harley;

I have been trying to “put myself in your shoes” and as I am doing this, I am beginning to think just how scary and difficult a move to Georgia may be for you. Let me give you an idea of how I know exactly what you are feeling: For most people, they do not travel as much as I have. When I was just 18, a few years older than what you are now, I went into the Army and was stationed overseas in Germany. Not only was it a far away place from home, but it was an entirely different country where I only spoke a little of the language but understood more. Regardless, the move was very difficult. What made it worse is that I went to Germany right before Christmas! That was the loneliest Christmas I had ever had – or so I thought. After a while, I went on with life and wound up really LOVING Germany!

Just a few years ago, 2006, I went back overseas to do some consulting with the Department of Defense and I left the first of November. This meant that even as an adult, I was spending both Thanksgiving and Christmas away from family and friends. Again, I went over to England and then Belgium not knowing a soul. Even the “co-workers” who I was supposed to be supervising kind of gave me the “cold shoulder”. It was a very lonely time!

What will be different for you is that you will be coming to a place where you will be GREATLY loved and cared for and you will be with a ton of people who WANT to get to know you and hang out with you! Besides myself, my youth group that I work with are absolutely fantastic! THEY CAN”T WAIT TO MEET YOU! I have a bunch of adult friends too who also want to meet you! Both adults and students are praying for you (and me) and excited to meet you! You are going to be like a Rock Star (but I suppose coming from Kansas, you will be more like a Country Music Star, LOL!)

From our video chats, here is what I can already tell about you: you are very outgoing and very charismatic. (Charismatic means that people are drawn to you and want to be around you.) With that in mind, trust me; don’t work too hard to make friends! Making friends for you will be easy! Let people know you for who you are, not for your past! Here is a secret I learned along time ago when I was just a little older than you: don’t worry about whether some people like you or not. If someone likes you, then good, but if someone does not like you, so what? Your life is more important than worrying about that! You will get real joy out of loving people back who love you and being compassionate toward people who may not like you. If someone doesn’t like you just because of who you are, they are not worth having as a friend. On the other hand, if someone does not care for you because you did something to hurt them, then it is your responsibility to make it right. If you apologize and really try to make it right but they do not forgive you, you have done your part – it is okay to move on and not worry about the other person!

Here is another thing I think I picked up about you: you are very resilient! This means that life can throw some really hard things at you, but because you have such a good heart, you will bounce back from those things! I hope you know that sometimes the most difficult things in life happen to people who will have the most significant impact as a leader! Since your life has had many challenges that you are beginning to successfully overcome, you will be an incredible leader!

This is another thing about leadership: being an excellent leader means that sometimes, you will feel like you are alone because you are making hard decisions! (I promise you that you will NEVER be alone as long as God keeps me here on this earth and even then, God will always be with you and he will surround you with people who will love you if you let them!) This is why education is so important to me. It is not about getting good grades; it is about learning to be a leader! Honestly, nobody wants to follow dumb! Strong leaders are intelligent and they find ways to overcome all difficulties – including education, physical limitations, and past struggles! You have such incredible leadership potential and to hear you pray, I can hear that potential in you! I so cannot wait to be your dad because I KNOW God is stirring within you great leadership!