Teen Gets Nike to Make Shoe for Disabled

Hmmm…….I really like this one.

One of Nike’s newest shoes, the LeBron Soldier 8 FLYEASE, may not be designed to be worn by professional athletes on the biggest stages in sports, but the shoe’s impact may be more important than any championship or trophy.

“I am currently 19 and in my second year of college,” Matthew Walzer, a teenager with cerebral palsy who helped to design the new shoes, told TODAY.com. “The shoes are the reason why I am able to go away to school on my own.”

Aha, that’s pretty much it. Read the story to understand Matt’s journey. I’ll leave you with quote that convinced me this was more than a fashion statement:

“It was the first time ever that I was able to put my own shoes on. I remember breaking down crying.”

 

Teen Helps Elderly Woman Walk

Kailen Young was just doing his job washing windows when he decided to help an elderly woman walk to her car. Someone took a picture, and the rest is viral history.

“I felt a little touch of heaven, that kindness and goodness in the world,” Clare (woman helped) told the WBIR of the teen’s help. “We need that so much, don’t we?”

That’s great. The man who took the picture had this to say:

“It spoke volumes. Black and white, male and female, young and old, all came together in one photo,” Yardley told HuffPost. “It was just a tender moment. … At the end of the day, it was a young person having enough compassion to help to help an older person.”

Stories like this are what this blog’s all about.

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Quote About Hope

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Testimony: Redeemed from Same Sex Attraction, Self Harm, and Suicide

This is a long one, but, as I usually say, it’s worth the read:

I’ll begin my story by saying Its not necessarily one of deliverance. I still battle the same fleshly desires I did before I came to know Christ, but I have been delivered from the bondage. That being said my testimony is not one of radical transformation, but one where a good good Father stepped in and showed grace and mercy to a troubled twelve year old who just wanted to be loved.

So a little background, I’ve grown up in a Christian home, practically born in church. I was baptized around the age of seven and could be found either raising my hand or at the alter during every single alter call until I was about eight. On the outside I could be found professing my Christian faith, but in reality I considered myself an atheist and only maintained this outward “holiness” to please those around me, I thought it was the right thing to do.

Meanwhile I found myself increasingly unhappy. At the age of three I self harmed for the first time, this eventually would escalate into an addiction to cutting. At three years old I also started to deal with major depression. This ended up stealing most of the joy of childhood from me and only got increasingly worse as the years went on. Growing up I always felt “different” from the other kids. It wasn’t until puberty and finally hearing terminology used that I understood exactly what it was though.

Continue reading

Charity Opens Theater for Homeless

Friends of the Streets, a Russian charity, has set up a makeshift movie theater in a tent next to a homeless center. They’re letting the city’s homeless decide which movies they feature this summer. In an effort to help the homeless have more mainstream lives, Friends of the Streets plans to show at least one movie a month. The group has also opened a hair salon for the homeless and is organizing a soccer match for them this weekend.

Do I want to be homeless?

Anyway, check out the whole story.

Minion Saves Girl’s Life

Those Minions from the Despicable Me series have really made a name for themselves. Now, after a career of being bad, they are saving lives of the innocent.

The girl broke her arm, but Colorado Springs police say she held on to the toy and it cushioned her fall Thursday night. Police said the girl was playing in her room when she fell backward out her bedroom window. She dropped about three stories to the ground.

Five year old girl managed to fall out of window. I hope we can do something about that to make sure that isn’t likely to happen again. Yikes. But, her love for her Minion saved her life, apparently.