Good Guys Wear Jerseys

I saw a facebook picture the other the day that kind of got under my skin a little. I let it go. Then, it rolled through facebook again a few days later with several likes and shares, and I thought, okay, I can't let it go again. So here goes:

The picture was a suggestion that a hero isn't a guy whose name is on the back of his jersey, but a guy who defends his country. This isn't a bash of our soldiers-- in fact, I wish I could adequately thank all those who serve or served our country with more than just "thank you." Rather, it's a chance to say that heroes wear all sorts of uniforms: dress blues, jerseys and shoulder pads, and plenty of others.

Two nights ago, the quarterback for Clemson, playing in his biggest game of his career so far, was captured on camera wearing a wristband that simply says, Pray4Eli. I bet Eli thinks he's a hero. I wonder if just by seeing that a sophomore qb, with the weight of a National Championship on his shoulders, took the time to add that bracelet to his uniform, made an 8th grade boy's fight with cancer a little bit easier, at least for a night.

Speaking of that Clemson quarterback, when he was nine years old, another guy who wore his name on the back of a jersey for a living, stepped up and furnished the house that his single mother helped build through Habitat for Humanity. It wasn't the first time that Warrick Dunn had bought a house or furnished a house for a single mom and her family and it wasn't his last. I'm pretty sure Deshaun Watson is just one name on a list of many who think Warrick Dunn is a hero.

J.J. Watt who plays for the Houston Texans is a you tube sensation for his aggressive plays on the football field, but he's got just as many videos of him visiting kids who struggle with being bullied and kids who spend their afternoons at after school facilities.

Finally tonight, I saw that Tim Tebow is planning more than 200 proms for students with special needs. Tebow has been praised and criticized as a football player AND a Christian, yet he continues to live his life serving God and serving others.

See, yall, good begets good. Kindness begets kindness. Heroes beget heroes.

And it doesn't matter if you run for touchdowns, hit home runs, or fly fighter jets. Or if your name is on the front of your shirt, the back, the sleeve; whether it's a first name, a last name or a nickname. It doesn't matter. The other things, though, they do.