I hooked up with Paul O’Rear a few months ago on FaceBook. Paul is a minister at the College St. Church of Christ in Waxahachie, TX. He and I have had occasion to message back and fourth a few times, he had ordered a copy of my book, and we have visited about a mutual friend who has been touched by my two YouTube videos about depression. Friday of last week Paul posted an invitation to a benefit breakfast for The Moral Courage Foundation. The event sounded like a great opportunity for me to go down and meet Paul face to face, and to learn about this foundation.

The next morning I headed south on I35 for the one hour drive looking forward to meeting the legend, Paul O’Rear. The members of the College St. congregation will tell you, they think Paul hung the moon so I felt I should at least shake his hand. When I first arrived, I paid ten dollars for a five-dollar ticket that would allow me to eat all the pancakes I could eat. That is all the glutin filled pancakes that I am not supposed to eat given that I have been diagnosed as having Celiac Disease. Oh well, it was for a good cause. I got two strips of bacon and one small pancake, and set out to find Paul. I saw him sitting with two ether men visiting. I sat across from him and began picking at my food. Paul looked up and acknowledged me as he continued talking to the others.  A moment later he glanced up again, but this time he took a little closer look, and then extended his hand and introduced himself. I took his hand and said, “Hi Paul, I’m Grumpy Smith.”

It was fun to see his reaction as he said, “I thought you looked like Grumpy Smith.” From there the conversation flowed freely with him thanking me for making the trip down, and me telling him the pleasure was all mine. I asked him about the event being held and what it was all about, and as he gave me the history and intent of The Moral Courage Foundation I found myself being more and more thankful that I had made the trip. In short, here is the history behind The Moral Courage Foundation. Dean Kilmer, long time minister for the College St. church wrote a book in 2007 titled Igniting the Moral Courage Of America: Six Ways You Can Inspire People To Live With Integrity. That book inspired one of his church members to start the foundation. The Foundation’s purpose is to provide a twenty-five thousand dollar scholarship to a deserving High School graduate every year. The student doesn’t have to be on the honor roll, they don’t have to be star athletes, or the offspring of the who’s who in town. They only need to be a model of Moral Courage.

The Foundation has a board of directors, and is supported by several different churches in town. It is not a Church of Christ scholarship it is a nondenominational foundation, and the student may attend any college or university he or she chooses. I must admit I got really excited about this foundation, and my first comment was, “This could be huge.” I ask if they intended to expand to other towns across the country and was told yes. They said they wanted to make sure they had the bugs worked out before taking it to the next level, and they felt it was almost time to take that step.

Friends I wanted to tell you about this wonderful work, and I want to encourage you to pray for the Foundation, and it’s leadership as they consider the future of this program. I would also like to encourage you to get a copy of Dean Kilmer’s book Igniting the Moral Courage Of America. You can find it at www.amazon.com. I was given a copy on Saturday and will begin reading it today. You may also want to take a look at the Foundation’s web site at www.moralcouragefoundation.org  

Till next time,

Grump