I just wrote two letters of recommendation for college scholarships for young men who have been part of CROSSFIRE for many years. They are currently in college and pursuing scholarship funds to continue their studies next year. Through their focused choices, hard work, and commitment to excellence, they have overcome the odds that seemed stacked against them and have become scholars!
During the process of getting the recommendation letters written, and looking through old files, I was reminded of dozens of letters I have written on behalf of various Crossfire kids over the years. There have been letters to school principals, to teachers, probation officers, community organizations, social workers, church groups, coaches, employers or potential employers, doctors, attorneys, guidance counselors, juvenile detention officers, colleges, and so on and so on….
In many ways, those letters are a mirror of all the life we have lived with children, teens, and young adults through the decades. Most of them were written in times of celebration, preparation, or desperation. They were written as a response to some significant life event.
Was the young person at a place in life that they were making the choices of a scholar or a scoundrel? Why did they need a letter of support or recommendation? Why did they need my name and signature to help their situation? Was I vouching for a scholar or pleading for a scoundrel?
I realize that I have loved the scoundrels as much as I loved the scholars, although it’s easier to find words to recommend a scholar than to plead mercy for a scoundrel. But they all needed help to get to a different place in life than they were experiencing at that time. They all needed encouragement and someone to believe in them. They all needed to believe in themselves and that God loved them and had a plan for them, regardless of their choices.
Jesus died on the cross for scoundrels and scholars. He loves both equally. And we all have the potential in us to behave like either of those on any given day, at any given moment. We all need help to get to a different place.
Jesus vouched for us so our names could be written in the Lamb’s book of life. His name is the name above all names. His signature is in blood.
It is finished….
-LTA