A Lesson from a Hurricane Survivor

[Dan R. Crawford]

It was a High School football game. He sat a few seats from me on the same row. After awhile he asked me, "Who are these teams?" I told him, then asked, "Where are you from."  His reply of " Port Arthur" told me all I needed to know. Adjacent to the football stadium is the basketball arena where Hurricane Harvey evacuees were being housed. He had lost everything - house, car, clothes, job; and caught a bus out of the devastation, ending up in Fort Worth, on the row with me at a High School football game. Unable to return home for two months, he was simply passing time by watching a game between teams he had never heard of before, refusing to give up, looking forward to going home and resuming his life.  It reminded me of a Tom Landry quote – “A champion is simply someone who did not give up when they wanted to.”  It also reminded me of a lesson re-learned from the Apostle Paul, who wrote, “tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.” (Romans 5:3-4).  For the first time in my life, I left a football game weeping.