We should never forget the sacrifice of those who protect our nation. To all military, police, and fire personnel, we cannot thank you enough for your service. You honor us with all that you do. We must never forget…

Being the third quarterback drafted in the 1983 NFL Draft, the same draft class where John Elway was first overall, Jim Kelly holds the all-time NFL record for most yards gained per completion in a single game (44) and recorded an NFL best 101.2 passer rating in 1990.  He led the league with 33 touchdowns passes in 1991, and made the Pro Bowl four times (1987, 1990, 1991, and 1992).

Leading one of the greatest NFL scoring teams, Kelly led the Buffalo Bills to four consecutive Super Bowls in 1990, 1991, 1992, and 1993.  Kelly finished his 11 NFL season career with 2,874 completions in 4,779 attempts for 35,467 yards and 237 touchdowns, with 175 interceptions, all of which are Buffalo records. He also rushed for 1,049 yards and 7 touchdowns.  Including his time in the NFL and USFL, he finished with over 45,000 passing yards and 320 touchdowns. On August 3, 2002, in his first year of eligibility, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Jim Kelly, 4^th of 6 sons, Pro Bowler and Hall of Famer, has seen it all, done it all, and walked away at the top of his game.  But it wasn’t until AFTER his football career that his strength, resolve, and character were truly tested to their limits.

Jim was speaking at a Men’s Event this past Saturday and also at church services this Sunday where he gave, not only his personal testimony, but a heart wrenching story or the birth, life, and death of his son, Hunter that changed his life and brought this Hall of Fame quarterback back from almost losing it all.

Hunter Kelly was born with Globoid-Cell Leukodystrophy (Krabbe disease), a fatal disease that affects the brain with a 14 month life expectancy.  Amazingly, Hunter lived until age 8, when he succumbed to the disease.  Filled with anger and turning from God, Jim’s life became very dark, while his wife turned to her faith, and began to heal and move forward.

Until the day when he decided to be honest with himself and completely change his life, Jim confessed to his God, his pastor, and his wife receiving, what he says was the greatest gift of all, FREEDOM.  Jim began to be the husband he needed to be, and the father he should have been to his two surviving daughters.  Kelly and his wife started the Hunters Hope Foundation to raise national awareness to Krabbe disease and help keep other children from suffering from the same disease that took the life of young Hunter.

Today, Kelly goes around the country speaking about his relationships with his wife and with Jesus Christ and what it means to really be a man, a husband, and a father.  He says that, “even with all the Super Bowls and Halls of Fame…my life TODAY is more exciting than all those days put together!”

Today I met a legend, both on the field and off, and one day I hope to meet Hunter and tell him what an amazing dad he has.  Thanks Jim for reminding us all what being a man looks like…

**SPOILER ALERT**

Mary Poppins (the book) is in SIMILAR to Mary Poppins (the movie) and also SIMILAR to Mary Poppins (the Musical) which is also more like Mary Poppins (the movie) than Mary Poppins (the movie) is SIMILAR to Mary Poppins (the book)…understand?  I’ll try to explain….

I LOVE Mary Poppins…there, I’ve said it.  Well, actually, I LOVE Mary Poppins as portrayed by Julie Andrews.  I love THAT Mary Poppins more than I like the character in P.L. Travers’ book of the same name.  Julie Andrews portrayal of the practically perfect in every way nanny is filled with humanity and wit, but I did not get the same “warm fuzzies” from the book as I did the movie.

One major reason is that the movie has been so “Disney-fied” that is bares little resemblance to the actual book penned by Travers, which makes the first that she had with Walt Disney much more understandable.

Walt Disney first attempted to purchase the film rights to Mary Poppins from P.L. Travers as early as 1938, but was denied because Travers did not believe a film version of her books would do justice to her creation and did not want an animated cartoon based on it. Disney finally succeeded in 1961, although Travers demanded and got script approval rights.

- Mary Poppins (45th Anniversary Special Edition)

Once you get past the movie, the musical, and all the preconceived notions of who Mary Poppins is, you can truly enjoy the book.  Filled with amazing characters and situations, you get a sense for how a creative like Walt Disney could have a field day with this material.

I found Mary to be a little more gruff than I expected.  Mr. and Mrs. Banks do not seem as overwhelmed with child rearing, as much as just disinterested.  They come in and out of their children’s days with regularity, but no mention of truly having a great affect on them.  Mary flies in at the beginning of the book, she and the children have some amazing adventures and she leaves.  There is no “let’s go fly a kite,” family realization of  how important each other are, let’s all smile and hug moment, but then again, there are still SEVERAL Mary Poppins books I still need to read.

Too truly get a real sense of Mary Poppins and fall in love with the original character that Walt Disney brought to life, I wold suggest this book, but be warned, it’s not the movie or the musical…it’s something different, and in some ways…better!

One of the things that I learned years ago was from author John Maxwell, he says that “Leadership is Influence.” And he is 100% correct.  So when I made the decision to step away from my occupational ministry life and step fully back into the secular world, questions began to arise as to what my influence would be.  And in a shocking way, God answered that question in of all places, Walt Disney World.

Frequent readers to this blog will know that my wife and I are full-on Disney Geeks.  We accept that and all the ridicule and judgment that comes with being in love with a place built by a mouse, but that is beside the point.  Being as passionate about Walt Disney World as we are, Sarah and I began to discern how we could still DO ministry in my post “occupational” ministry life.  The answer came at an after dinner gathering at the “Top of the World Club” at Bay Lake Tower, next to the Contemporary resort, near the Magic Kingdom.

Walking away from “the church” also meant that we lost a LOT of our friends.  Of course you COULD make the argument that just because we left the church doesn’t mean that we coouldn’t keep our friends..“  But that was not how it happened for us.  When we left the church, we DID lose our friends.  But that’s not ALWAYS the case.

But on this special night, we were surrounded by a group of people who accepted us for who we are, support and encourage us, and seek us out to spend time with and invest in our lives.  And some of these people, we have had real, difficult discussions with. God brought us a new group of people that we can HAVE influence on and also BE influenced by! And it all made sense.

In the immortal words of my favorite Disney character Stitch, “This is my family, it is small, and broken, but still good…yeah, still good.” These are some of the people who I have to lean on and be a solid for them to lean on.  These are people who I can confide in and be a confidence to.  I have been blessed with some amazing relationships and I value each and every one.  Much like some of our other great friendships, these people are AWESOME, and they are there for us.

The focus of my leadership may have shifted, but my call and my desire to serve is still strong and passionate today.  I feel very blessed and humbled to allow these people to have influence on my life.  And I hope to one day have some influence on theirs.  I know that loving God and loving others makes God very happy, but I also think that Uncle Walt would be happy too.

Who has influence on YOUR life?  Who are YOU influencing?