Light in the Darkness

From Jeanne Damoff today:

I haven’t done much writing this week, but that’s okay. I love what I’ve been doing instead. One of my other “jobs” is choreographing musical productions, and I always enjoy the interaction with the performers I teach. This weekend the local high school is staging a 50s musical, so we’re down to the wire on perfecting steps and adding the pizzazz that makes a show worth the ticket price.

Yesterday evening after rehearsal ended I chatted with the director about one of the young men performing. He’s so full of personality and enthusiasm, it sparkles from the stage. The director told me that he lives in a “gang” house, and that everyone in his family is connected to the gang except for the boy and his grandmother. At some point he will be forced to join the gang or move out. His grandmother told the director’s husband that the one thing keeping him straight is choir. He loves to sing and perform, and he knows he’ll be kicked out of choir if he joins the gang.

After sharing this story with me, the director said watching him shine on stage almost makes her cry. She’s so thankful that God is using her choir to give this boy a reason to steer clear of trouble.

If the director hadn’t told me, I never would have known that this young man is faced with pressure to join a gang. I also remembered that we never know how many people our lives may touch. There are people all around us dealing with who-knows-what, and we may be the light they need to see. If we encourage someone and give him hope for the future, it just may be the one thing that keeps him from giving in to peer pressure. We all have the opportunity every single day to speak words of encouragement to others. Do we take them?

Today let’s make the answer to that question a resounding, “Yes!”