A young man who was an Aslan student a few years back called me this week just to catch up. Richard is now retired from 40+ years in the Army. Back in the day, he was a star on our basketball team that we had for the first 13 years of Aslan.
Growing up in a rough neighborhood, without a “dad” in his life, was not easy. As wonderful as Richard’s mother was, his sister and a younger brother ended up with lives scarred from addiction. Rich was one of those kids who you loved dearly but who could often disrupted things. There was a time in late Middle School when we had to ask him to take a break from our Bible class program. His behavior was so bad that we couldn’t get anything done.
In his high school years Rich matured some, but his often-bad temper caused him plenty of problems. We worked and worked with him and his many talents, but it was difficult to see which path he was going to choose down the road. Because of his outstanding talent in basketball, when he graduated from high school we arranged for Rich to try out for the Southwest Texas State University (STSU) team. Needless to say, the 30,000 student university was a big change from the streets in New Jersey! The coach at STSU was a friend and a Christian, and we knew he would give Richard every chance to succeed. As a freshman, Rich didn’t play any, but we all were of high hopes he would succeed in his second year at STSU. He wasn’t very far into his first year of college, however, when he encountered some serious problems with the police. We helped him obtain a good attorney, and he appeared before a sympathetic judge who gave him two paths from which to choose: either jail or the Army!
The Army proved to be just what Rich needed – discipline. This is a value we try to instill in every Aslan student, and it’s the hardest value for them to let sink into their hearts and minds. The Army and Richard were a perfect fit. He became an Army medic, and he developed an interest in martial arts that led him to success around the world. An unexpected result was his becoming the top, heavy weight division, martial arts expert and champion in the Army and the entire armed services of the United States. He sent us the picture below, with a room literally stuffed with trophies, and he dedicated his international championship trophy to Aslan.
Richard eventually rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and he was in and out of Afghanistan on extremely important missions more times than you could count. While serving our country, Richard also completed his Master’s Degree and his PhD. How about that for a disadvantaged kid from a rough neighborhood!
During his army career, Richard developed a GED Program for soldiers who had not graduated from high school. This has helped countless young men & women finish their GED with high scores and in record time. As if he needed even more talents than he already has, Richard just last week released a beautiful song on YouTube. Is there anything this guy can’t do??!!
Throughout his adult life since we took him to Texas for the basketball tryout in the late seventies, Richard’s mantra has been, “What would Aslan do?” Every time he has been tempted to get off the straight & narrow, Rich asks himself “What would Aslan do?”
When I talked to Rich last week, I told him he’s one of my heroes – just like every Aslan kid who has fought against insurmountable odds to break the chains of poverty and the spirit of low expectations. I say it again to all of you who read this, Rich is my hero! I am so thankful that God gave me a chance to be a part of this young man’s life. Yes, he’s still young to me, even though he just turned 65 years old!
