Courageous Girl

“Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spirit of others are stiffened!” – Billy Graham

I went on my website to check the dates that I was going to be speaking, and ran into this particular quote by Mr. Billy Graham. First of all I thought it was awesome, and was right on, but it reminded me of an e-mail I received recently from a young lady.

She was basically writing me a thank you letter for coming to her school and speaking, but the amazing thing was that she was writing having seen me speak six years ago. Six years ago! The last time she heard me speak she was in middle school, and now she is a sophomore in college. I was absolutely honored, and blown away at the same time. I was so blessed that she had the realization that she had kept words that came out of my mouth six years ago and apply them to her life. Wow!

This young lady was extremely courageous, and totally took a stand that stiffened and challenged the spirit of other young college students around her. In a nutshell she was completely vulnerable and honest with me by telling me that she was driving to a party with five other girls and fully intended on drinking and then driving home. The amazing thing is that six years ago when I handed out a brochure, this middle school girl cut out the picture of me and when she turned 16 taped it to the dashboard of her car vowing never to drink and drive. Well as the story goes, over time that picture was knocked down and the memory was no longer as powerful in her own words. Then what I believe to be divine intervention happened! When the girls arrived to the party they all started getting out of the car and the picture she had taped to the dashboard was somehow still in the car and got knocked out onto the ground. The girl who knocked the picture out of the car picked it up and ask the driver, (whom is the young lady I am speaking about), what is this? To sum it up, this particular young lady started to cry as the story, the reality, the reason why she taped it to her dashboard, and basically remembering the day that she heard my speech hit her like a ton of bricks.

Now remember we all have thousands of choices each day and in each situation! This young lady could have shrugged this off and continued on with her plans. She could have come up with some lie. She could have just said, “it’s nothing”, but she didn’t. She not only stood with courage and conviction, she acted on it! She then began to tell them about the message and about what her plans were when she put the picture in her car. She then went on to explain that she was not going to drive home and encouraged all of them to do the same. She volunteered to be a designated driver and went on to make several trips to make sure her fellow mankind made it to where they need to go safely. She made the right choice, and in doing so she probably saved lives including her own life! She went on to tell me that some of the other girls that night made the same decision as she did to not drink and offer to help drive people home!

This story is simply amazing! I don’t know if there is any other way to put it! She completely stood with courage and stiffened the backs of all individuals who were around her! Her spirit in that moment was contagious as other individuals around her were touched and ended up making the same decision she did. The decision she made was not easy by any means! No in fact it was very difficult, but she had acted out on her inner conscience and it was super powerful! I hope that this story would inspire myself, and some of you to be more courageous in the places where we know we need to be!

I do say a great big thank you to the young lady who had courage and acted in this manner!

God Bless! Chris

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