Amazed, humbled, and blessed…

What a day it was! The Les Turner ALS Walk for Life started with the Pope and ended with me on my knees, thanking God, for all the blessings He’s rained down on me, by surrounding me with some of greatest people any man could ask for as friends. Team Moving Mountains with Mustard Seeds brought the most walkers and raised the most money. I’m very thankful for and proud of both. I spent the day surrounded and loved by those who have shared my life over the last 35 years. The acquaintances of “Coach” and of “Greg” got to meet and swap stories.

“There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future.”
St. Augustine

As I mentioned, the Pope kicked off the walk with this introduction:

There were 179 teams and over 1,800 walkers representing so many with Lou Gehrig’s disease. We came close to bringing 100 team members, all proudly wearing our Moving Mountains t-shirts, which were produced by my good friend at Pandora Printing. Thank you, Amir, for printing hundreds of thousands of t-shirts for me over the years. Friends from age 4 to 87 proudly wore our team shirts on Saturday. Because I find myself closer to the upper end of that age range, by 4:00p that afternoon, I was worn out.

So, what happens when friends, employees, and customers from my bar-owning past meet face-to-face with my students, parents and teachers from my algebra-teaching present? Nothing but great things! To start with, at least one set of parents and one of my fellow teachers met their spouses at one of my locations. I’ve enjoyed reminding their kids that if it wasn’t for me, they wouldn’t exist. It took no time at all for the two groups to begin mingling, explaining how they knew me, and swapping stories from past and present. I’m amazed to say that at no point during the day did anyone embarrass me. I thank you all for that.

Only one time did I completely lose it on Saturday. When I first arrived and walked out of the parking garage to see the amazing production from the team at Les Turner ALS Foundation, I cried and almost went to my knees, not knowing if I could go through with the day. All my fears soon subsided after that first long hug, affirming I was loved, and everyone was there for me (thanks, Waxie). I think I started telling a thousand stories and finished none, because of the flood of friends that kept arriving. By the time the Walk started, I was exhausted from clutching so many people that I was so excited to see.

Throughout the day, everyone commented on what a great job I had done with organizing our group. It’s time to set the record straight…I did nothing but come up with the team name… and I happen to have ALS. My beautiful bride, Amy, and our dear friend, Megan Waksmundzki, did all the heavy lifting – creating the invitations, contacting friends, organizing the afterparty, creating contact lists, picking up donuts and coffee… I could go on and on. I can never say I love you and thank you enough for all you always do. In addition, so many others flew in from out of state, passed the word, and put in the effort to make it such a success. And to my nephew, Jake, I wouldn’t have made through the day without you.

I wish I could come up with a great story to tell that happened that day, but the story lies within the outpouring of love I felt. Over the last 35 years, I’ve made a lot of mistakes, and not one was mentioned. The grace extended by all in attendance was truly overwhelming. The sharing of great times that were had and those that lie ahead still has me riding this wave of joy five days later. I pray that everyone walked away with just a little slice of that joy as well… and a smile or two.

As the day came to a close, a good friend sent me this song by Warren Zeiders, which I’d never heard before. It speaks of not being perfect but letting your actions and heart show others exactly who you are. It became apparent at the Walk that most of you have accurately perceived me, seeing through the once bulletproof exterior and right to my heart. Last weekend made me realize that I have so many more stories to tell and hopefully a lot more time to tell them. Thank you, all, for making those memories with me, forgiving me for my shortcomings, and standing by me through it all.

I’ll close this week just by saying thank you one more time. It doesn’t come close to what I feel in my heart, but hopefully that came through in one of the hundreds of hugs I gave out last Saturday.

Friends are like angels with pants on, who have the power to show up in ways we can see. Friends are God’s way of reminding us that His love really is with us, even when the prayer thing isn’t working out the way we hoped. May 15, 2018 by Unite in Prayer

Thanks for spending a little time with me for one more week.

God bless.

Coach