My husband, Coach John Shoop, has been writing for Chapelboro.com this fall about Triangle area college football. The articles have generally been a coach’s perspective on things like game preparation, offensive philosophies, and related topics. This week his final column is worth reading for anyone–even people who don’t care about football. It’s about diverse community and mutual relationships–it’s about giving thanks. I hope you’ll take a look.
This Thanksgiving, as every Thanksgiving we’ve spent at UNC, we were blessed to have some of the players at our Thanksgiving table. Devon Ramsay is one of them. If you don’t know Devon’s story and you are a Tar Heel fan or any fan of college football, you should. He is a fine young man—someone to be proud of, someone to root for, and someone for whom UNC should be thankful. For John and me, Devon is someone who inspires us with his resiliency, his perseverance, and his desire to keep working toward his dreams. And for John and… Read the full post
Being thankful is a choice we make—and it comes with a complex constellation of consequences. “Let your hope keep you joyful, be patient in your troubles, and pray at all times.” Romans 12:12 This Bible verse was written in pencil on a torn piece of an index card and stuck in the upper right hand corner of my dresser mirror while I was an adolescent and a teenager. This scrap of Divine direction helped to order my young life. The commitment to such thankful living came from a place of both plentitude and pain. As a survivor of sexual violence… Read the full post
