Hope

There are a few football players who just seem to have perfect names for what they do. Like Bronco Nagurski. I mean you can tell exactly how tough he is just by hearing his name.

Larry Hope is one of the biggest reasons I came back to Emmaus. I have never met anyone like him, and feel very honored to call him my friend. I'm not sure that I have ever met someone from whom the gifts that God has given him flow so freely. For our guys, his namesake is truly fitting. Emmaus would be a totally different place without him, and much the less I'm afraid.

Larry is one of those people that when I hear him speak, it makes me want to be a better Christian. Billy Graham has that affect on me. Rich Mullins had that affect on me. But the best part about Larry as oppossed to those other two is that I get to actually hang out and talk with Him. And maybe the best part about that is that I get to hear about his struggles, his insecurities, his frailties. In short, his humaness. It makes me respect him that much more.

A couple of years ago I spoke at my churchs young adult group. I talked about Larry for awhile. I think the address to that site is www.driverswanted.org, but I'm not totally sure. Maybe one day I'll bother to take the time to learn how to post a link. But if you bother to take the time to listen, I think it was June of '04. You can also read a bit about Larry at www.streets.org, which is the Emmaus website.

I like being able to say something about someone without them knowing about it. So if you happen to read this and know Larry personally, don't feel the need to tell him about it. Larry knows how much I respect him.