Gene Stallings and Johnny

Gents,

I had the opportunity to attend the "Evening with Johnny" event last pm at KCHS.  This event and presentation was all about fatherhood and the unconditional love of a child and his father.  Several things Gene Stallings talked about really hit home with me and I'll do my best to share with you but to really capture the essence of this story please watch this 10 minute video, pretty amazing stuff...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uUVez3kNcI&feature=related

A few highlights from the talk --

1.  He talked about he loved to focus on the guys that were 4th and 5th string.  The guys who would never play on Saturday but showed up every day with huge hearts and strength to not only be the best  but to make the starters the best.  He said these were the guys who really "got it" and made him realize that these are the folks we are called to focus our lives on... ie caring for everyone.

2.  He talked about the problems in today's society with fathers... he said the average father spends 40 hours/week working, 50 hours/week sleeping, 8 hours per week "grooming" to go places and on average 2.5 minutes per day speaking with his child...  

3.  He quoted 3 John 1:3  "It is always my greatest joy to hear that my children are living according to the truth."  Emphasizing how important it was for us to teach our children about faith in God and to seek his truth in their lives.

KCHS, based on the support of the Harris family (owners of Knoxville Wholesale Furniture)  have named the new training facility after Gene Stalling's son Johnny.  Mr. Harris gave a wonderful witness of how the Holy Spirit and called him to do this and his desire to teach future KCHS students, through Johnny's inspiration, that sports are not only being fiercely competitive but about character, respect, and honor.    There will be a plaque in the facility that will bring this message home.

Very powerful evening, that represented the impact that we can all have on people's lives.  As Coach Stallings said just imagine what you can do if his son who couldn't count to ten but had such a tremendous impact on so many people.  Simply living his life through the unconditional love of others and God.